Down the Rabbit Hole
by TheAtomicBoom
Summary: This is what i get for having a characters named Alice isn't it.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Sorry i haven't been updating RH in so long. A lot of personal stuff happened in the past year that really put it on hold, so i'll try to get it back up and running by April. This is just relaxing to me, though, so please enjoy.**

* * *

In the mundane countryside of Ascot, Berkshire, it was storming sheets after sheet of thick, icy rain. The sky was crowded full of dark grey clouds, and everyone was cooped up in their homes, fast asleep with the rain thumping against the roof and walls, lulling them into a deep sleep. Except for one, she was wide awake.

A girl, maybe six at the oldest, was staring out the window, watching the rain make the ground outside into a mixture of mud and broken shards of grass, while the flowers were being pushed down due to the weight of the rain beating down on them. She watched them with silent curiosity, wondering if they could feel the freezing water hit them so harshly. It made her feel bad for the flowers, but she'd never be allowed to bring them in the house, _She_ would just throw them out, as the girl had learned the hard way after an incident with freshly picked lilacs and violets.

The girl's name was Alice, and she was …. odd.

Well, only in what everyone else said was "normal", Alice never seemed to fit to it. She was a desperately lost child when she had came to Ascot nearly a year ago, but she had no clue why or how she had ended up there. But now, there was a reason to her apparent sleeplessness tonight, and it wasn't due to her habit of counting stars after midnight, it was much too clouded to do that.

She had one of those _dreams_ again. The one that seemed so vivid and real. So colourful and lifelike that it was almost as if she was really there, like a sort of déjà vu.

But then there was fire, and screaming, and maniacal laughing in the distance, only to have Alice shocked awake, only to see a plain bedroom in front of her as she shook in bed, chills running down her spine. The dreams were always there, as if they were luring her to somewhere beyond, but where?

But that's foolish, as she had heard so many times before when she tried to talk about the talking flowers and the wide grin and familiar bright green eyes (did she know who owned them, perhaps?) that hid in the shadows when she would see them in her sleep. _She'd_ always say for her to stop talking like she begging to be locked up in an institution. _She'd_ throw Alice out of the streets if it wasn't "the goodness in their hearts to take pity on her" and keep her in their care.

_They_ didn't need to, of course, but _She_ thought Alice weak and unable to care for herself. Which was silly, of course. While _She_ allowed her own daughter to go horseback riding and take croquet lessons, Alice would do chores that were more fit for servant work, and in her free time Alice would sneak out books from all over the house that the long dead patriarch of the family had left, which Alice soaked in her lonely hours, reading stories of not just fantasy and adventure but of sciences and math. Even just the english literature in general while she hid in the garden, surrounded by red roses, replacing the white roses that were planted by mistake that _She_ hated. Alice always wondered why _She_ didn't just paint the roses red, it seemed much easier than replanting new ones.

_She_, for the record, was Mrs Parkinson, the Widower and sole matriarch of the family after her husband died a short time after Alice arrived there. It was Mrs Parkinson who Alice, then five, came across when she stumbled on the Parkinson's doorstep, suffering from a hard hit to the head, apparently receiving a jumbled memory due to it, and dressed in a ragged pink dress, herself being a newly made orphan.

The only thing of value on Alice though was the golden pendant that was around her neck, which had a tiny pink jewel in the middle, accompanied by an engraved "Snape" just above it. This, of course, was Alice's last name, and from then on she was referred to as "Snape" whenever it came to Pansy, the only Parkinson child, who saw her as a free help to the family as opposed to a guest, or even part of the family. A long-staying guest who was not welcomed, mind you. Mr Parkinson insisted she stay, and Mrs Parkinson didn't have the heart to throw her out after her husband died just a few months after Alice showed up, considering she promised to keep her there on her husband's wishes. He was always a kinder man than she was. Alice supposed she should be thankful for his generosity, but after he passed her comfort went straight down to her current status as more of a maid then anything else in the household. It was not the greatest of situations, but it was better then living on the streets, Alice reminded herself over and over again, even if she was treated more like a nuisance than a person of value.

But Alice was hopeful, She knew that someday, somewhere, she'll find where she was accepted for who she was. Where she could be herself and not be shamed for what she thought or imagined. Somewhere she could be happy. Where she could have a real family and friends.

But she'd have to wait for that. They'd all have to wait for that.

* * *

**12 years later**

* * *

The carriage ride was slow. Its was always slow. Pansy hated it. The slower the ride was the more time she was stuck sitting next to _her_.

Pansy never liked Alice. She thought she was an oddball, and had the sneaking suspicion her own father liked the freak over herself, darling little Pansy Parkinson! But that's ludicrous, who'd prefer that Snape over herself?

Alice was pretty, yes, but she was oddly built, just like everything else about her. She was fairly short, and much too skinny, her ankles and wrists didn't look like they could support any weight or they'd snap right off. Her eyes were an amber brown colour, which reminded Pansy of freshly made mud. Her black hair was an annoyance too. It was so very thick and curly, so every time she went to bathe her hair would soak up and take half the water with her. Pansy thought while Alice was wringing out she could have at least used what came out to water the flowers, but then Pansy realised how odd that sounded, and became angry when she believed Alice's strangeness was wearing off on her.

Alice also was very shy, but Pansy never expected her to get along with normal people so that wasn't all surprising. Alice seemed more interested in those old, boring books anyway. A woman lost in fantasy when she should be building up her social status? Absolute madness! Her head always seemed to be somewhere else, too. Pansy wondered where it was, and why Alice didn't just bother to stay there in the first place.

But there was always one thing that puzzled Pansy about the little Snape. Where did she even come from? She showed up nearly thirteen years ago, with no record of who she was other than her repeating her name and that pendant necklace of hers bearing her surname. Maybe her parents got sick of her and threw her out of the house, hence the hit to the head and how much of an awful state she was in? Pansy wouldn't be surprised if that was true, Alice was so annoying anyway, it was no wonder they'd get rid of her. Pansy remembers Alice was mumbling something about where a talking cat and a rose flower were hiding, but that made no sense. Cats aren't kept inside, and flowers stay in a garden. It's proper that way, after all. But Alice was always odd, always lost and confused, and it only got worst with age.

When she was about fourteen, Pansy's mother allowed Alice to start attending their weekly tea parties with them that was with the local well-to-do families, but there was Alice, and you know how she is. Alice found the tea parties boring, and would comment on how the music should be more lively, or how it would be more interesting if a Hatter joined the party. Alice always enjoyed Hatters, for some reason or another.

But Hatters are mad, as Pansy's mother would remind them over and over. It was that element they used in their work, it made them loopy. Pansy reckoned that's why Alice liked them so much, they were odd like her.

The carriage buckled on, the dirt road hitting pebbles and causing them to fly up as the horse pulling it nickered here and there.

"Alice," Mrs Parkinson spoke.

Alice gave no response, and continued to stare out the carriage window at the looming countryside.

Pansy huffed. There she was again, lost in her little world of talking cats and hatter tea parties. Why cant Alice just be normal for once?

"_Alice_," Mrs Parkinson repeated, this time with a little more force behind her voice.

"Hmm?" Alice finally replied, snapping out of her daydream.

Mrs Parkinson gave her a sour look. "Where are your stockings?"

Alice looked down at her legs, and sure enough, no stockings were seen.

"I'm against them," Alice explained simply.

"You're not properly dressed," Mrs Parkinson hissed.

"Who is to say what's proper?" Alice asked. "If it were agreed that wearing a cuttlefish on your head as proper, would you wear it?"

Alice gave a haste glance at the two Parkinsons, who had tacky feathered spoon bonnets (which Alice suspected was because the Ascot Hatter didn't particularly like them) placed on their sleek hair, then looked straight ahead once again.

"That's not the point," Mrs Parkinson said with venom in her voice. "You'll embarrass yourself,"

"When doesn't she," Pansy mumbled. Her mother gave her a warning look, and she was quiet once again.

"I'll try to be civil, i promise." Alice said weakly. As she suspected, Mrs Parkinson gave her a half-smile, as of she was proud of her for once. Alice, of course, didn't care what either her or Pansy thought of herself. Sooner or later, Alice is going to just go as far away as she can from them, maybe she'll leave a note explaining why, but the sooner Alice can finally leave, the happier she'll be.

They were silent for the rest of the carriage ride, and before long they had arrived at their destination.

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The richest area within England.

Pansy and her mother gracefully got out of the carriage like quaint, daintily creatures while Alice, with no help from Pansy, stumbled on her dress, which was the best they could gather up for her without spending anything on Alice whatsoever. Pansy snickered as Alice's face when pink from embarrassment and Mrs Parkinson giving her a sneering look. Alice avoided her gaze for the time being.

The manor they had parked in front of was quite impressive indeed. Carved white marble adorned everything from the columns to the windows sills, surely three stories or more tall, Alice instantly recognised it as the Smith estate. However, about why they were there, Alice did not know. Personally, she didn't think she'd like the answer.

"Come along," Mrs Parkinson said in an orderly voice. "They're waiting for us,"

At the cue, Pansy and Alice followed her, and they were lead to the garden behind the house, where a full-on party was underway.

Of course, not a fun party. Everyone was dressed in their usual formal dresses and suits, making small talk about pointless things and dancing in overly routine rotations.

Alice could already tell she was going to like this party less and less by the second.

She looked around. Everyone was in their very best things, finely detailed with laces and adorned with precious gems, even Mrs Parkinson and Pansy were in their evening best: Dark green dresses, with underlining of black lace and a fine matching fabrics to make them look quite the sight. Not to mention the spoon bonnets on their, which more less made them look more like birds of prey than lovely lasses of Ascot. Alice, however, was in a simple dress. It had minimal lace and was a light blue, almost lilac, colour. The only jewels she had on was that pendant of hers bearing her name. In short, she looked atrociously plain compared to everyone else in attendance.

Alice sighed weakly, and Mrs Parkinson noticed. She nudged Pansy, and have her a knowing look. Pansy understood the gesture and turned to Alice.

"Alice, dear," Pansy said in an overly forced, sweet voice. "Come with me, I'll find you someone to dance with."

Seeing as she couldn't exactly say no with Mrs Parkinson around, Alice silently obligated, and they went into the crowd.

"Pansy," Alice said as soon as they were far enough away from Pansy's mother. "I don't want to be here."

"Nonsense, of course you do," Pansy said happily. "This _is_ your party after all."

Pansy smirked as Alice stared at her. "My _what_?"

"_Party_," Pansy repeated. Oh how she loved this. She knew it would be hilarious to keep Alice in the dark about this until the last possible moment. "Why do you think everyone is here? It's your engagement party!"

Alice looked as if she had been hit in the stomach by a blunt object. In this moment, it looked as if she'd prefer to be hit instead than what the actual reality was.

"T - To who?" Alice asked, her voice stammering. She knew any "engagement" that was in place here was arranged, not one that was based on mutual attraction and affection between two people.

"To Zacharias Smith, obviously," Pansy exclaimed. She was most definitely enjoying Alice's torment. "Why else would we be here?"

"But i don't want to marry Zacharias," Alice said in a panicky voice. "I want to marry out of love, _real_ love, not because someone decided it for me!"

"You'll learn to love him, Silly," Pansy giggled. ""_Real love_", now that's just poppycock. Who better to marry than a young Lord?"

"Anyone, really," Alice muttered.

"Yes, like a _Hatter_," Pansy said mockingly. "Honestly, you _would_ marry a Hatter, wouldn't you?"

"Well maybe i will!" Alice snapped at her. "They'd be loads better than Smith anyway!"

"Please, you know _that_ won't happen. You don't want to end up an old maid like Trelawney down the road, do you?" Pansy retorted.

"No, but - "

"Plus," Pansy continued, cutting Alice off. "If it wasn't for me and mother you'd be living on the streets now, much less marrying into such high status!"

"And I'm very thankful for that but -" Alice started.

"Oh look!" Pansy said excitedly, cutting Alice off again. "There he is!"

Alice had met Zacharias before several times, and every time she did she liked him less and less. Sure enough, Pansy was right, he was only a few feet away from them.

Zacharias was a rather stumpy boy, with wiry blond hair and a sharply upturned nose which he always looked down on others from. He also never looked happy, and frankly was just a pompous prat in Alice's honest opinion. How anyone could assume she'd marry someone like that is just a ploy to make Alice miserable.

"I repeat," Pansy chimed in. "Who better to marry than a young Lord?"

As she said that, Zacharias took out the handkerchief from his coat pocket and blew his nose into it. After he did, he looked at the residue left in the square of fabric and made a disgusted face at it.

"See? What a charming young man," Pansy laughed. "Now come on, go say hello."

More pushing her along than letting her go by herself, Pansy directed Alice towards him, until Alice could smell the overpowering stink of the cheap cologne in Zacharias' neck.

"Oh, hello Alice," Zacharias said in a business-like way as they approached.

"And the lovely Parkinson," he added, this time addressing Pansy and sounding much more pleased to see her there as well.

Pansy gave him a simpering smile while Alice looked about defeated. Maybe she'll have to put her travel plans more ahead of schedule than she originally thought.

"Care to dance with the ugly duckling here?" Pansy giggled, waving towards Alice.

"Certainly," Zacharias said, his voice losing his enthusiasm when it came to doing anything with Alice.

"Might i share a dance with you afterwards, if you are not busy…?" Zacharias pondered hopefully, looking at Pansy.

"But of course," Pansy said, battering her eyelashes at her. Alice rolled her eyes. Pansy would reconsider her real love debate if she were being forced to marry Zacharias, now wouldn't she?

Zacharias grabbed Alice's hand and they walked hurriedly towards the dance floor placed on the stone deck in the middle of the garden. Apparently he was just as eager to end this encounter as Alice was.

Alice couldn't help but tell that his hands felt rather clammy. Maybe if she just slipped her hand out...

"Ugh," Zacharias spat as they arrived at the dance floor. Damn, Alice overshoot her escape window of opportunity. "Who invited _her_?"

Zacharias pointed towards Susan Bones, who was a simple upper class girl in a lavish yellow dress, which actually went well with her red hair.

"There's nothing wrong with Susan, she looks rather lovely," Alice said. Susan looked rather nice most of the time, actually, but Alice didn't expect Zacharias to notice or care.

Zacharias huffed indignantly. "Look at her hair, it's disgusting. Looks like "

"Really?" Alice said, trying to keep her annoyance with him down to a minimum. "Red hair is actually seen as blessing of magical abilities and great warrior status in many cultures, and seen as a mark that they have great sexual prowess - "

"I think it makes them look like they have an infection," Zacharias sneered, cutting Alice off and giving her an offended look at talking about something so taboo. As if anyone could hear her over their run-of-the-mill conversations. Zacharias dragged her into the crowd then, and they were doing the boring twirling dance that Alice found so useless "And who cares whatever "prowess" they have, _that_ type of thing is purely for childbearing anyway. Not for pure immoral fun, or whatever it's called."

Alice's mouth went into a thin line as Zacharias said, leading her in the dance, "Try changing the subject, this topic is repugnant -"

"Sometimes i wonder what it's like to fly," Alice said immediately, and admittedly, she did wonder what it was like. Birds always looked so peaceful up in the air. t least more peaceful than having to be swirled around by the last person she'd like to dance with.

Zacharias gave her appalled look, as if she had just hit him in the head with a thick book, which at the moment, she would seriously considered doing if she had one on her person.

Alice was suspended in awkward silence when Zacharias said, "When in doubt, i say it's always better to remain _silent_."

"You should take your own advice then," Alice muttered under her breath.

Zacharias yanked her out of the dancing crowd and glared at her, his nauseatingly moist hands on her arms. "I'm sorry, i think i misheard you, what did you say?"

"i said "be quiet before you make more of a fool of yourself" but i suppose _you_ can't help it," Alice seethed.

Zacharias stared down at her furiously. His hands on her bare arms made her feel squeamish, but Alice stood her ground nonetheless. In most cases Alice wouldn't have acted so mouthy, but her last nerve was pushed. She really didn't care. Alice would rather be kicked out of the party and the Parkinsons life if it meant she had to speak what she really thought to a bloody "young lord".

"Excuse me?" said an authoritarian voice. They turned to the right and saw Lady Smith, Zacharias' mother, staring at them, her blue eyes in slits.

"Mind if i speak to Ms Snape here for a few minutes, dear?" Lady Smith asked in a voice laced with poison.

Zacharias let go of Alice. "She's _all_ yours."

"Excellent," Lady Smith said, and she nodded towards Alice. "Come with me, please."

Zacharias gave her a stupidly amused grin as Alice trotted after Lady Smith. Whatever was just about to come to her, Alice was sure she would not enjoy it.

"Let's go look at the flowers, shall we?" Lady Smith said as Alice caught up to her. "They always look so lovely around this time of the year."

And so they walked, side by side, and into the maze-like hedges, Lady Smith being the guide.

Lady Smith was a stout, plump woman, but she was fierce and powerful despite her lack of height. She shared the same wiry hair and eyes Zacharias had, and his awful attitude.

They walked in silence, Alice keeping her arms pinned to her sides. If Lady Smith was going to thrash at her, Alice wasn't going to give her anything to yank her from. Except maybe her hair. Oh god let's hope she doesn't go for the hair.

"Alice," Lady Smith started simply. "Do you know what I've always dreaded?"

"The decline of aristocracy?" Alice asked casually.

"Overly wilful women," Lady Smith said in an agitated voice, obviously unamused by Alice's comment. "They cause more problems for themselves then help. And unfortunately, i see that quality in yourself, and it worries me greatly."

"Well, i can assure you," Alice started. "It only comes out to people who _deserve_ it."

"So you think my son deserved your snark?" Lady Smith asked in a peeved voice. She must have overheard Alice talking. "I don't believe he cared to hear about your odd lust towards red follicles and your urge to have wings, and neither did i."

'Well you have great hearing then.' Alice thought to herself.

"If you're going to be a part of _my_ family," she pressed on seriously. "You will have to get used to _our_ family's rules and traditions, and that does not include your nonsense about your peculiar daydreams. We work in our family, and we are nonsense. We are serious, proper, and - oh no,"

Lady Smith stopped herself, and glared at the ground in front of her. She stared at the bright white roses they have walked up to. "I asked for _red_ roses. Who the devil planted these hideous things?"

"You could always paint them red," Alice suggested out of instinct. Instinct always told her that was an unwise thing to blurt out in front of _her_. Alice would pay for that later, surely,

Lady Smith turned to her and gave her a bewildered look. "What an odd thing to say," she said in a patronising voice.

Alice felt the judgemental glare as Lady Smith said "Well, when you clear your head of nonsense you can join us again, it is _your_ big day, after all."

Lady Smith marched out of the area, and turned a corner, and was hidden by the hedges as she went back to the party.

Alice sighed. She could never do anything right, could she? Everything she did or say just came back to bite her in the end. She hated it here, maybe she should just leave now…. Avoid the trouble…

There was leaves rustling, snapping Alice out of thought. Alice turned, and her eyes widened as she saw the oddest thing.

A petite girl, about her age, had appeared out of nowhere looking at the white roses. Her hair was nearly length and dirty blond. It was slightly poking out near her ears, though. She didn't seem to be part of the party, since she wasn't in a fancy dress or anything. Instead she was in a dark blue basque jacket, grey trousers, a plain lilac shirt (which was adorned with a dark lavender sash wrapped around her waist), and boots, which Alice could have sworn looked like rabbit's feet. Beyond that, Alice couldn't help but notice one thing that really struck her as out of the ordinary.

The girl had a pale yellow rabbit's tail on her backside.

"Excuse me?" Alice asked. "Who are you?"

The girl was startled, and turned to Alice. Her eyes were wide and silvery. Alice noticed through the girl's hair that she had two bright red radishes hanging from her ears.

"Um," Alice said weakly. Was the girl okay? Did Alice scare her?

Just then, the girl heard a rapid ticking, and yanked a silver pocket-watch from within her coat pocket. However, when the ticking went off, Alice nearly yelped out in surprise.

The protrusions coming from the girl's head became fully aware then. They were rabbit ears that were in place of human ones, and they that matched the colour on her tail. The radish ears were connected to base of them. They even moved around like a rabbit would to hear out predators.

A half-rabbit girl, who would have thought.

"Oh my, are those real?" Alice asked curiously. She stood be startled, any _normal _person would, but Alice was fascinated. In fact, when her ears popped out, she looked almost familiar. Had Alice met this girl before?

"I'm late," the girl said finally, her voice dream-like and airy. That _definitely_ sounded familiar.

"Wait, you're from one of my dreams!" Alice realised. Yes, it made a little more sense now. She had seen a girl like her in sleep. But the girl was much smaller in those visions, and happier. Now the girl was taller and looked frightened for some unknown reason,

"_I'm late_!" the girl repeated with more urgency, and she raced off in the other direction.

"Wait!' Alice called after her. "Come back!"

The rabbit girl turned the corner, and she was gone just as quickly as she had come.

Alice had half a mind to chase after her went she felt someone clamp down on her wrist.

"There you are!," Pansy said exuberantly, "Come on, you have an engagement to get on with!"

Before she could try to free her from Pansy's grip, Alice was being yanked out from the hedges, and the ruddy party goers were gathering around the gazebo, where Zacharias was waiting for her. Oh god, maybe Alice could kick him in the nose and run away. Maybe no one will chase her.

Pansy pushed her way through the crowd, and directed Alice up the steps. Alice glanced back at her and saw the vicious smile on Pansy's face. She knew how much Alice didn't want to do this, probably why she was rushing it so quickly, The sooner it happens the sooner Pansy can have a hearty laugh about it.

Pansy left Alice up there in front of Zacharias, who looked just as aggravated by this as she was. Did this really have to happen now?

A piano started up, and Zacharias huffed, turned to Alice, and got down on one knee.

Alice felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest, and thumping in her ears, nearly deafening her. She as going to be stuck with _him_ or be an old, loony maid like Trelawney was. But Alice didn't want either of those to happen!

Zacharias coughed loudly, and held his hands out, and Alice hastily put her hands to his. They were still clammy, Alice noticed. Maybe he had a precipitation problem.

"Alice E. Snape," Zacharias started apprehensively. He didn't even bother to learn Alice's middle name before he went into this? Good job, Zacharias. "Willyoumarryme?"

Zacharias said the last part rather quickly, as if it was foul and he wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. He gave her a forced, "sweet" smile. But Alice just frowned at him. How was she going to get out of this?

In the nearby bushes, however, a whole conversation of party crashers was underway, watching in on the scene without anyone noticing them.

"Who in the world is _that_?" said a boy's voice, obviously confused by the situation.

"Some ponce with a pig's nose, obviously," said a second boy's voice, sounding more annoyed than confused. "Look at him, he looks like he need a kick to the rear-end if you ask me."

"Agreed," the first boy said. "But what is he doing?"

"I believe he's asking for her hand," said a dreamy voice. It was the rabbit girl.

"Let me run over there, i'll jab him in the shin and we can get her!" said a second female voice, but it was much higher than the others before her.

"Well how does he expect to accomplish that?" the first boy inquired, ignoring the high voiced female. "He doesn't even have an axe to do so! He's got this all wrong."

"I say we steal the food while they're distracted, that'll show 'em." the second boy suggested.

"That won't help anything except your stomach!" the high voiced female spat.

"I'll fix this," the rabbit girl said in her airy voice as the second boy and high voiced female bickered. " You three get back to the tree. I'll be right back."

Alice glanced at the crowd, and they all stared back, looking puzzled about why she wasn't eagerly saying "Yes, of course i'll marry you, Zacharias!" over and over like it was the luckiest day of her life.

She heard the ticking again, but it was much fainter, and Alice glanced to the side where the hedged section of the garden was. The rabbit girl was back, poking out of the hedges, and she was tapping her pocket watch, waving at her. Was she trying to beckon her over….?

Zacharias huffed, annoyed that he got no response, and Alice finally turned back to look at him. At last! They could get this foolish thing over with.

Alice looked him up and down, her brows furrowed, and she yanked her hands from her grasps, looking positively offended that she was touching him.

"I, em," Alice started, looking at the baffled crowd (and avoiding the gazes of a severely fuming Mrs Parkinson and Lady Smith, who were beet red in the face) "I'll be right back,"

Alice picked up her dress just slightly up to allow her more room to move, and quickly stepped down the gazebo, and raced towards the hedge maze and after the rabbit girl, who had sprinted into the hedged area as soon as Alice started down the steps after her.

She turned into the maze, and chased after the rabbit girl as she quickly lunged farther and farther away from Alice.

Alice tried to keep up, but it was quite hard in these damned laced up boots, and the girl was half-rabbit, it was no wonder she was so fast. However, Alice still was on her trail. And soon, they weren't even on the Smith estate any longer, instead heading towards an opening to a wildly thick forest full of twisting trees.

The rabbit girl went behind the most prominent of the trees, which looked almost navy blue in colour, and when Alice finally reached it, the rabbit girl was nowhere to be seen.

Alice huffed, some of her dark hair getting in her face. Alice put her hand on the rest to give her support, and she tilted her head down in apparent defeat.

However, when she did look down, she saw where the girl had gone.

There was a rabbit hole at the base of the tree.

Any sane person would have just ran back to the party and apologise profusely for running away. But Alice wasn't like that. Maybe this was her escape plan in the first place. But through a rabbit hole? Even that seemed too odd to be true…

Alice bent down, and out her hands on either side of the rabbit hole. It was far bigger than she expected, and she put her face closer to it.

"Hello - ?" Alice called, and she heard an echo from within. How deep was that thing anyway?

Alice bent down more for a better look, but as she did, the dirt under her right hand crumbled, and she lost her balance.

She fell forward, and was engulfed by darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This is well over 20,000 words so you can tell why this took forever to write.**

* * *

Well this rabbit hole was bigger than it lead on!

Down, Alice's hair was whipping around her face.

Down, her dress skirt flying up that she had to push it with her hands to keep it from going too high up her legs.

Down, there seemed to be no end to this damned thing!

As the daylight eased away as she fell farther, it was replaced with queasy yellow oil laps in mismatched rows that lined the walls, which was bizarre, how'd they'd get those in there? Thick green vines wrapped around the dirt walls, swirling into odd circles or crawling up towards where the daylight was far above. Alice tried grabbing for one, but they were too slippery, she had no grip on them whatsoever.

Before long (and ultimately deciding to just go for the fall), Alice noticed that there were objects starting to come into view. Umbrellas were roughly crammed into the walls, mirrors littered the the sides of the tunnel (which Alice couldn't help but notice they showed her going the upwards instead of the other way around when she past them), floating clocks going off, and shelfs on the walls, which were stacked full of books she did not recognise. Alice grabbed for one of the shelves but couldn't get a proper grip due to the caked on dust, but she did grab one of the leather-bound books. Seeing as she'd be floating down for a while (assuming, of course, the bottom wasn't near anytime soon) Alice opened the book to a random page, Alice began to read the spidery thin writing. '

_'Come the initial end of his reign, the Dark Lord was vanished, never to be seen again. He had objects, all of importance to him, that had fragments of his very soul within them. I, in my studies, came across how to make these items, but it was so gruesome, so undesirable evil, i dare not write it here in the case any were to repeat the actions. Potter insisted we burn the manuscripts to these instructions, and we rightfully did so, we left no traces. Our forces were more than capable of finding and destroying them. Serves him right. He believed he could target the young, manipulate them as soon as possible so they could join him once they were of age, but what he didn't realise is that the wholeness of a child, the pure innocence of them, it kept them free from his influence, and those who were blessed to have that willpower come adulthood were more than willing to fight for a better future for their own eventual children. I know we did, and we won. We won and darkness shall never plague our land again, and i'm thankful for that."_

The writer dotted the end with S.T.S, whatever that meant. But Alice realised that this wasn't a storybook, but a journal, and whoever this belonged to had written quite a bit in it. It was a fascinating read, maybe she'll read another passage…

_CRASH_.

As quickly as she was falling, Alice quite literally went through the supposed bottom of the tunnel, still gripping the journal, and rolled into the centre of the floor.

She coughed, her lungs feeling like the air had been pushed out of them due to the sudden impact, and the dust that lingered due to her crashing through the ceiling. Alice pushed herself up into a sitting position, but for the life of her, she didn't feel her hair on her back.

She looked up, and sure enough saw that her hair was standing straight up, and that she was sitting next to an upside-down chandelier. How strange.

The room corrected itself. Alice had barely a second under she was falling again, except this time it was much shorter, and she crashed again onto what she thought was the checkerboard designed ceiling.

She pushed herself up again against what was now apparently the floor, and looked around. No trace of a dirt tunnel anymore. And by what Alice could tell, she was in a tall, circular room, which had the same yellow tinged light from the tunnel. Thick, blood red curtains hung from the walls, and there were several banged up doors lining the room.

Alice stood up, the journal still in hand, and walked towards the nearest door to her, a dark stained one with carved panels on it. She yanked on the looped handle. It didn't budge.

She went to the next door, and shorter, rounded door. Alice pushed it, and again, it did not give way.

The next door, a fairly plain one, didn't move either. The fourth door, a highly decorated one, and the largest one with painted on, golden accents, was plastered shut.

Alice huffed, and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. There was no way out, was there? Nope, certainly not, She was going to die here and that was that. Fan-bloody-tastic. Just what she wanted.

Alice looked at the journal, and lifted up her skirt slightly, putting the journal through the belt of her underdress for safekeeping. Who else would look there?

She turned, and noticed that there was a small table in the middle of the room. Why didn't she noticed that before? And sure enough, she saw something sparkle on it…

It was a key!

Aha! A way out! It surely had to open one of these blasted doors. Alice nearly sprinted over to the table and grabbed the key. When she did, she turned and headed once again for the doors, and shoved the key into the hole.

It did not work for the first door. Alice swore under her breath, and went for the next door. Again, the key did not work, nor did it for the third or fourth doors.

"You know," said a condescending voice, hiding in the shadows beyond. "You'd think she'd had remembered this, she was the one who thought it up, after all."

"Hush you," said a familiar airy voice. "She's doing fine, she might not even have to do the cake test."

"Hopefully she doesn't, your cooking is awful.," said a second male's voice.

"I don't believe i asked for you to speak." said the airy voice, sounding annoyed. "But she is doing much better than i thought she would."

Alice turned on her heel, beyond seething, and saw the red curtain hanging there. She walked to it, and pulled it aside. Sure enough, a small door was behind it. However, it was much too small for her to fit through, except maybe her head. But with no choice, really, she bent down and put the key into the hole and turned it.

The door unlocked this time, and when the door swung open, Alice was met with a bright blast of white light.

Alice pushed herself up, the small door closing shut soon afterwards, and she looked around. This obviously was some sort of dream, She hit her head on the tree and now she was dreaming. There was no only explanation, and it was her dream, after all. So there had to be a way to make herself smaller to fit through this blasted door.

A bottle appeared on the table again, and Alice walked towards it.

There was a label tied to the bottle, and it said "Drink Me" in swirled lettering. How quaint.

Alice put the key on the table, and uncorked the bottle. It smelled like rancid cough syrup, and Alice wrinkled her nose at it. Seeing no other choice regardless, she drank it, and it went down just as well as the smell went with her nose.

As the slightly burning liquid hit her throat, the ground started to become much bigger, as did her dress.

Before long, she was in a sea of light blue fabric, she under-grew her own clothes! Alice pushed herself out, and realised she was stuck in her vertically striped underdress, her original dress nearly seven times bigger than she was now. As she readjusted herself, she saw that the door was closed, she had the sudden urge to smack herself in the forehead.

She left the ruddy key up on the table!

Alice looked up, and saw it mocking her through the glass of the table. She adjusted herself, and tried jumping up to grab it to no avail. She tried climbing up the table, but she didn't have enough upper arm strength to lift herself up. Alice landed back down on the ground in aggravation.

"Oh look, she gets to be stuck with your cooking now," said the second voice in a mocking tone. It giggled until one of the others smacked them in the head.

Alice looked around for anything else, and as suddenly as the bottle had appeared, a small white cake had instead, bearing the words "Eat Me" in bright red frosting on its own little plate.

She bent down and grabbed it. Looking back up at the key through the table glass, Alice took a bite of the cake. It tasted like stale sourdough, and Alice coughed slightly because of it.

Alice put the cake down and stepped backwards. As she did, the ground suddenly became much farther away than it originally was. Her underdress got much tighter and shorter, and she hit her against the chandelier, then finally the ceiling itself. She bent down, and put her hands against the walls. She stared down and realised she was much too tall now. Great, she can't even get the height right here.

She bent down towards the table, slid the key into her outstretched hand, and grabbed the bottle of shrinking liquid and chugged it down.

Alice coughed again after she drank the liquid again, and her underdress became loose for the second time as she shrunk back down.

Picking up her dress, Alice carried the key towards the door, and unlocked it. The bright light shined again, and Alice stepped forward.

Her shoes crunched onto a familiar surface. green grass. Alice's eyes got adjusted to the light and she realised that she was nowhere familiar now.

The trees were twisting upwards into the greyed sky, all in hues of blues and purples with contrasting coloured leaves by the hundreds. The warped bushes went in many directions, creating peculiar patterns, like zigzags and arrows in their foliage. Overly large, spotted mushrooms littered the area, all in colours of oranges and greens. There was also a wide variety of plants Alice did not recognise, all intertwining themselves with the other plant life and sticking out of the fog that filled the area.

Alice stared in awe. In all her many daydreams, she had never imagined a place so vastly colourful and marvellous. It was almost too good to be true.

There was a low, growling noise, and Alice went still.

A great gush of hot air went against her back, sending chills down her back, and going against her instincts to just run, she hesitantly turned to face what was behind her.

Nearly ten feet tall (and looking much bigger considering how tiny Alice was in her shrunken state), a great beast was staring down at her with its angular, hazel eyes, snarling at her. It looked like a monstrous, dark purple raccoon with an elongated neck , but it had razor sharp teeth, and the tips of its ears and tail were shaped in a way through scarring that gave it the appearance of flames.

'This is all a dream, this can't hurt me' Alice thought to herself.

The beast breathed in and gave a nasty bellow of roar in Alice's face, making her hair fly behind her and nearly knocking her down, but she stood her ground.

Going with what her instincts finally said, Alice started running in the opposite direction, but as she did, the creature chased after her, having a much better grasp of the surroundings

Alice ran as fast as she could, picking up her skirt and jumping over the thick tree roots that blocked the path, trying to also make sure the journal she found did not slip out of her skinny belt, which for some reason shrunk or grew according to her.

She ran and ran, and the creature was fast on her trail, nearly becoming a blur of purple as it hunted her down and growling after her with its speed.

Her sight was momentarily distracted as Alice looked over her shoulder at the beast, and she tripped over one of the massive tree roots, landing ungracefully onto her face.

She pushed herself up slightly, spitting out shards of slimy grass as the beast cornered in on her. Alice looked up defencelessly, backing up as much as she could until she hit another tree root, and the beast lifted up its clawed paw and swung it toward, scratching into her exposed upper forearm.

Alice felt the claw seared into her skin, and she bit back the urge to scream as the beast lifted its arm back up, surely to make another swing at her. Alice put her hand on the wound, and she pulled back her hand to reveal blood on her hand. She put it back to stop the blood flow as the beast readied for its next action.

The beast lifted its arm up, and Alice closed her eyes for impact, but when she did, there was another voice that rung through the air, a much _angrier_ sounding voice.

"Oh no you _don't_, you brute!"

Alice opened her eyes, and saw a girl, maybe only a little bit older than herself, swinging on the beast's head, banishing a needle-like sword at it. The girl swung her arm up, and drove the sword into the beast's eye.

It bellowed in anguish as the girl yanked the sword out, pulling its large eye out with it. She jumped off it,kicking it in the snout and landing on her back.

The beast whimpered, and ran the other way, and it soon became a distant mirage of purple in the wild underbrush of the forest nearby.

The girl stood up, huffing, and Alice noticed something on the stranger's back.

She had a thin brown tail.

Before Alice could say anything, the girl turned around to face her. She had a wild bush of mousy brown hair on her head and eyes to match, and she has protruding buckteeth. Not to mention two curved mouse ears where human ones would be on her head. Alice could't help but notice that the girl had tied the beast's eyes to hang from the leather belt on her waist, clashing with the dull red dress she was wearing.

"You alright?" the girl asked, sounding much more polite than she was to the creature.

She held her hand out to her, and Alice grabbed it without a second thought with her none bloody hand, but in a slightly bewildered manner. "Y - Yea,"

"Good," said the mousy girl, helping Alice up. Alice looked at her arm, the blood seemed to have stopped, but her arm was rubbed red now with three long, newly scabbing over scars. How lovely.

"That wretched bandersnatch," the mousy girl said gruffly. "He always does this, probably hasn't fed yet today."

"He wanted to _eat me_?" Alice yelped. The clawing at was one thing, but being eaten was another!

"Don't take it personally!" the mousy girl said, holding her hands up in defence. "He isn't usually isn't like this, he can just get … _cranky_ sometimes…."

"So you stab his eye out?" Alice asked, pointing to the girl's prize.

"I'll give him it back after he calms down!" the mousy girl, looking flustered.

Alice went "Hmpft! and brushed her hair out of her face.

The mousy girl gave her an odd, question look. "I'm sorry, okay? That's just how we do it here. Now, what's your name?"

"Alice," Alice stated. "Why?"

"_The_ Alice?" the mousy girl asked enthusiastically.

"I would hope so." Alice said. Why wouldn't she be Alice? She knows who she is.

"Let me see the necklace around your neck then," the mousy girl said, putting her hands on her hips.

Alice's eyes widened in surprise. How'd she know about that?

The mousy girl rolled her eyes and didn't wait for an answer, and put her face near Alice's collarbone. She saw the necklace around her neck, which seemed to grow and shrink according to Alice just like the journal. Were they charmed to work that way?

The girl read the the engraving quickly and looked back up at her. "Alice _Evanna_ Snape?"

Now she even knew her middle name? Even the people who supposedly knew her in real life didi't eve know that. "…Yes…"

The mousy girl's face lit up with excitement. As she did, heavy footsteps were heard, and the mousy girl's ears pecked up.

"Tell me," the girl said. "Are you usually this height?"

"No," Alice said. "I'm usually pretty small anyway, but not this literally,"

"I see," he mousy girl said. "Hold on,"

The mousy girl reached her hand into one of her dress pockets, and yanked out a piece of cake. The very same Alice had before. "Here, eat this,"

"Oh no, won't that make me too tall though?" Alice said, staring at it apprehensively.

"Not if it's a crumb and a half," the mousy girl explained. "You'll be normal size with this, i promise."

Alice started at her. She didn't seem to be lying. Actually, seemed quite helpful thus far, she did save her from that bandersnatch, after all. Alice thanked her and took the crumb, and ate it whole.

When Alice did so, the mousy girl became much smaller, until she was about the size of a dormouse. Alice checked to make sure the journal was still there (it was), and sure enough, her skirt only went just bellow her knees now. Just about right.

The footsteps got closer, and as they did, the mousy girl climbed up Alice's arm quickly, landing at her shoulder. Alice pushed herself up, and brushed the dirt off her underdress as four newcomers came closer.

"Well you look worse for wear," said a dottily voice.

The four shadows became clear now as the fog cleared. Heading the pack was no other than rabbit girl herself, looking concerned.

"Are you okay?" the rabbit girl asked worriedly, hastily patting Alice on the arms and dress to get dirt and grass off. "I'm sorry about just running away in the garden like that earlier, i didn't mean to. It's just in my nature is all, and i've been looking for you for so long, i had no idea what to say or do - "

"Luna," the mousy girl said, her voice sounding higher than it was when Alice was near her height. "_Luna_,"

The rabbit girl was still rambling on and the mousy girl yelled "WONDERLAND TO LUNA!"

The rabbit girl, apparently named Luna, snapped out of it, her rabbit ears dropping down, and gave the mousy one an alarmed look. "Sorry, Hermione,"

"You've been loitering around with the Hare and Hatter, haven't you?" the one of Luna's companions, a male human one.

He had sleek black hair that stuck out at the ends near the base of his pale skinned neck, and a monocle over one of his blue eyes. He was in all navy blue safari outfit that had pinned one a long blue feather to his lapel, and there was a handful of the same feathers on the back of his trousers. Was he trying to be a bird?

"N - No!" Luna said, her cheeks blushing red. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because you're always fawning after Hare?" Zachary replied a matter-of-factly. "Really, can't you fancy someone who doesn't get easily distracted by silverware?"

"Don't talk about him that way, and she's been joining our tea parties, so yes, she has been "loitering" with us. She's quite fun to have around," the mousy girl named Hermione said irritably, making Luna give her a pleading look. "Why? Are you annoyed we never invite _you, _Zachary? Which we do, you just never come."

"No!" the blue boy named Zachary said stiffly. "I'm too busy to go to those anyway, with the Red Queen on my tail feathers all the time! I barely had any time today to help you! But Luna has been picking up Hatter's speaking pattern! Which i suppose is better than Hare's, he just swears and blurts out random words a lot-"

"It sounds more like your speakin', mate," said the third companion, which was a tall ginger one with very bright red braces on to match his baggy trouser shorts and clash with yellow striped shirt. He also had vivid blue stockings (that matched his eyes) on under his black and white-tipped boots.

"No it is not, _Tweedle_," Zachary snapped, sounding scandalised. "I just get very wordy in my answers is all,"

"Oh will you stop calling everyone by their titles already, Zach?" Hermione fumed.

She turned to Alice. "Ignore him, he's just irksome today. The ginger one is Ron, and the little idiot one next to him is Harry,"

"I am not!" said the last companion, a shorter, bespectacled boy with unruly black hair that stuck out in many directions. In fact, the boy's eye colour matched the deep green of the bushes that went almost in the same shape as his hair was in. How peculiar! He was also in the same outfit as Ron was.

"Yes you are," Hermione said simply. "In the Tweedle division you are Dum, and Ronald is Dee,"

"I'm not Dum, He's Dum," Harry said, pointing to Ron. "I'm Dee,"

"You're dumb _and_ Dum, Harry," Ron said impatiently,

"Takes one to know one," Harry said in a giggly voice.

Zachary stared at Alice, who looked very amused by Ron and Harry's childish bickering. "Luna? Are you quite sure this is the right Alice?"

"Of course it is!" Luna said. "I went all over looking for her, and this is absolutely her! Quite a challenge, might i add, she looked hardly recognisable in that stiff get up of hers at that _normal_ people party."

"_Yuck_," Ron and Harry said together, snapping out of their argument and looking positively disgusted. "_Normal_ people, how bland."

"Makes me think of cauliflower," Ron said, sticking his tongue out.

"Or wearing undergarments," Harry added, and Ron nodded in feverish agreement.

"Then let's take her to the Caterpillar then, he'll confirm it for us," Zachary said simply.

"You mean Evan?" Hermione asked, cocking a brow at him.

"Whatever! You know what i mean!" Zachary thundered defensively. "Come on, let's go."

Luna grabbed Alice's hand, who looked more amused by the situation than confused, and they were on their way.

_'What a bizarre dream_', Alice thought to herself. They've never been so detailed before! She looked around restlessly, getting in the sights of hedges they walked towards and birds flying over head, who were massive and in unusual colours (or at least they were for what she was used to).

Zachary led them through a massive maze of striped, vine-like plants that stood straight up, and soon the area was covered in the fluorescent mushrooms from earlier. However, as they got closer to where Zachary was leading them, fumes of purple and pinks lingered in the area. and Ron and Harry had to wave it away while they coughed.

Zachary fanned away the smoke to reveal their destination. A bright blue and green mushroom, where a boy with massively curly and voluminous hair sat, no older than them was sitting, smoking from a highly decorated hookah vase through an attached thin, golden smoking rod. The huge mop of hair on his head covered his eyes, and he looked to be asleep, the golden smoking rod, nearly falling out of his mouth.

"Caterpillar, get _up_," Zachary said, going up on his toes and poking the bushy haired boy in the shoulder. He grunted, and waved him away.

"_Evan_," Hermione said loudly. "We found Alice! Now get your fat arse up before i stab you in the antenna."

At that, the boy named Evan lifted his head up (which Zachary huffed in annoyance at as he lowered himself back down), and the boy pushed himself up (revealing his earth toned outfit of plain shirt with golden vest and striped green pants with curled toed slippers on) to look over at Alice, only one of his umber brown eyes looking at her in a scrutinising way. He removed the smoking rob from his mouth, and twirled it in his hand.

"Who, is _she_?" he breathed out, a slight trace of violet fumes seeping out of his mouth.

"Alice, obviously," Luna said, waving at her.

"We shall see," Evan said smoothly, taking another hit from his rod in a deep intake.

"What do you mean "We shall see"? I think i'd ought to know who i am, thank you very much," Alice fumed at him. She didn't need doubt to be put on her after these four were already so torn on who see was anyway.

"Yes, you ought to," Evan said, his one visible eye boring into hers.

Luna gave a weak laugh. "Evan, honestly, i searched high and low for her, and i know it's nearly been thirteen years, but this is her. She even beat the door test, and she's the one who thought it up! She even has her identification necklace on and everything-"

"That may be true," Evan said, green fumes huffing out into Luna's face, which made Luna's ears flop downwards trying to swat it away. "But how can you be sure when she does not remember?"

"Evan, you worm," Hermione said angrily, standing up on Alice's shoulder and banishing her needle sword at him threateningly.

"That i am," Evan said cheekily, breathing in the now orange fumes from his vase.

"You know she had that accident on the way out all those years ago," Hermione continued. "Maybe you can knock her memory back?"

"No, i don't believe i shall," Evan said lightly.

"_What_?! " Luna and Hermione yelled at the same time, looking enraged.

"Why _not_?" Luna asked, her brows furrowed.

"Wait, what do you mean "accident"?" Alice asked, looking baffled. "Was i here before?"

"See?" Evan said, waving his hand at her, which made pink smoke swirls direct towards her. "She does not remember. But she will."

Evan turned to Zachary. "Dodo, please bring the Oraculum,if you may."

Zachary turned to Hermione. "See? He still uses the titles,"

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him, and Zachary pulled out a small tube from his belt, and pulled out an incredibly long, yellow scroll and rolled it out on the mushroom. Hermione jumped off Alice's shoulder and onto the mushroom, and helped spread out the scroll to view it better.

Alice and the others crowded around it, Harry even jumped up on Ron's back to get a better look.

"The compendium of Wonderland," Zachary explained, notching the questioning look on Alice's face.

"Meaning?" Alice asked.

:It's like a storybook," Hermione explained. "It has what has and what ever will happen written down, so we know how to prepare ourselves."

"It's been recording every single day since the beginning. Every day has it's own title and picture," Zachary remarked. "Today, for example, is Griblig Day, in the time of the Red Queen. Look."

Zachary pointed to one picture, which sure enough had an ink drawing of the group of them looking over the long scroll on the mushroom, with Harry on Ron's back, even Evan smoking from his vase. It was scarily accurate.

"Show her the Frabjous Day," Evan said before blowing out rings of yellow smoke.

"Oh yea' Frabjous Day is the day you slay the Jabberwocky!" Harry said excitedly.

"We can't wait, bein' looking forward to it for ages," Ron added ecstatically.

Alice looked over he shoulder at them. "I'm sorry? A Jabber-what?"

"Oops, yea, you don't remember, do you?" Harry said, looking sorry.

He pointed to the picture of the day they adjusted the Oraculum to, which was of a girl with long, curly black hair in armour with a sword in hand holding it up in striking position against what looked like a dragon. A dragon who was much bigger than the girl, with spikes coming out of its scaly face, who looked to have three sets of sharp teeth, massive claws, and was lunging towards her.

"See? There's you with the Vorpal sword," Harry said plainly.

He pointed to the drawing again, his finger on the sword in hand.

"Only Vorpal swords can kill a Jabberwocky," Harry said.

"If it ain't Vorpal, it ain't dead," Ron added clearly.

"There's only two in Wonderland," Luna joined in. "But as far as we know, one has been destroyed, and the other, well…"

"The other is with the Red Queen," Evan sighed out, looking bored as the fumes mixed together around him. "She always was a greedy little thing, hence why she kept the Jabberwocky too. It was too powerful to let free, especially if others were out to destroy her precious little childhood pawn."

"Wait, she has the only sword to destroy her beloved pet?" Alice asked, giving them a troubled expression. "How do you expect to accomplish that?"

"Well _we_ don't, stupid girl," Evan said, turning to her and looking vexed. "_You_ have to do it."

Alice stared at him as if she were petrified. "I - I can't do that!"

"Dear, you _will_, whether you want to or not," Evan explained drowsily. "The Oraculum does not lie. It never has, and it never will. Ever action you do know, regardless if you think about it or not, will lead to your killing the Jabberwocky. You are not hardly Alice, but you will be. Remember that."

"Because that makes perfect sense," Ron said.

"Oh yea', _definitely_," Harry said sarcastically.

Alice's brows furrowed. How'd they expect her to do that? She never had a sword fight before, much less with a giant fire-breathing monster who wanted to kill her in return!

"Don't worry," Zachary said soothingly. "I know it seems scary now, but you'll just fine! There's not a single record that you don't win in the end. So you should be perfectly fine! The Oraculum doesn't lie, but you already know th-"

Zachary stopped, and turned to look at it again. It had been pushed slightly to where Luna and Hermione were gigging over one spot just slightly over on the Frabjous Day.

"Excuse me, ladies?" Zachary asked in his calmest voice. "What are you laughing at?"

Hermione bit on her lip, trying not to giggle. "Come over and look,"

She pointed to Alice. "Don't let her see though! It's a surprise for later,"

Zachary rolled his eyes, and walked over to them. Looking to make sure Alice, who looked insulted that they were excluding her from something that apparently was about her, they moved aside to let Zachary see.

He bit back a laugh a second later and looked up at Luna. "Really? Oh god, Ches is going to flip, he's been calling that one for _years_."

They giggled, their heads crowded together over another ink drawing of the future Alice wasn't allowed to see before it happens. Evan was zoning out and looking like he was going to go back to sleep, and Alice was starting to shake with rage. Sure, fine, laugh about her over something she apparently can't control that a bloody scroll told them would happen! Well fine, have it their way.

Alice turned to Ron and Harry. "I'm leaving. Tell them not to follow after me after they're done giggling about me, unless that scroll with tell them where i am anyway,"

"But-," Harry and Ron started, looking puzzled.

"No buts, just do as i say," Alice stressed, She turned back, and saw that they weren't pay attention to her, and she creeped away. Harry and Ron stared after her sadly.

Harry put his face on Ron's shoulder as she disappeared from view. "You reckon she'll do fine?"

"Only if Rose finds her first, Fred will just piss her off more than she already is" Ron said, frowning slightly.

"You mean Cheshire?" Harry corrected him

"You know what i mean." Ron said.

The pair of them stared up at the sky, seeing vultures lingering just above. The Queen must be bored if they're out.

Unknown to them, a group of steel clad horsemen were coming their way.

* * *

Two massive, red doors banged open, a short girl in an elaborate red, black, and gold dress stepping forward, fuming. She looked so enraged, she might as well of had stream coming out of her ears.

"Who ate my tarts?!" she screeched, Her sharp crown nearly falling off her straight, black hair. Her pointed teeth were bared, her dark grey eyes scanning the room, which had a line of servants in red waistcoats were standing in a row, looking frozen to the spot.

Her court followed her, looking terrified. All dressed in reds and blacks, just like she demanded of them.

"Um, Your Majesty?" The blond girl nearest her said. "Perhaps you can just ask for more to be made?"

"Silence, Greengrass," Charisse hissed at her, swinging her golden staff (which was headed with a large red heart) at her, nearly hitting the dark-skinned boy named Blaise next to her in the shoulder.

Charisse walked forward, her heeled shoes clicking loudly against the marble floor. She stared at each small child like a snake about to pounce of a small mouse.

She pointed her staff a near inch away from the first one, a girl with a massive stock of hair.

"Romilda," Charisse said sourly. "Did you eat my tarts?"

"No, your majesty," Romilda said respectfully.

Charisse stared at her for a second, then moved on to the next one. A short boy with prominent ears and dark hair.

"Euan," Charisse said sharply, staring at him. "Did you eat my tarts?"

"No, your majesty," he said squeakily.

She moved to the next one, a girl with her brown hair in a bob cut.

"Did you eat my tarts, Tabitha?" Charisse asked, pointing her staff at her.

"No, your majesty," she replied.

"What about you, Nitin?" Charissa asked, pointing to the boy with tanned skin.

"No, your majesty," he said calmy.

Charisse straighten herself out, and went to the last person in line. A small boy with sandy hair, who looked at the floor, moving his feet about.

She bent down, putting the tip of her staff under his chin to push his head upwards, looking him in the eye.

"Did you eat my tarts, Creevey?" she said in a near whisper.

"No, your majesty," he said, looking to the side.

Charisse's mouth went into a thin line. She could plainly see a slight hint of purple goo on the corner of his mouth.

She scrapped it off, making his eyes go wide, and Charisse licked it off her ringed finger.

Charisse closed her eyes for a second, then opened again, and looked at him with a very sympathetic expression.

"That's Squimberry juice," she said, a mocking frown on her face. It only brought out the painted on black hearts under her eyes. It made it look like she was crying black blood. But her, crying? Unheard of. No one even knew if she had a human emotion beyond anger in her body.

Charisse stood up, her fists clenched.

"Draco, Blaise, take his boy to the gallows!" she snapped, and the platinum boy from her court, and the dark-skinned boy rushed forward, and grabbed the squirming boy as he kicked his feet yelling "No! I was so hungry, i didn't mean to!"

"Off with his head!" Charisse screamed with rancour in her voice. She _loved_ saying that, it came with the many perks of being the Red Queen, after all.

Her mother before her was the Red Queen, but she was weak, passive. Her father, the Red King, always did most of the work, hence how they got to so much power in such a short time years ago. Charisse remembers how they chased those goody-two-shoes off their thrown, all blond and horrendously good-hearted. The king, when they were taken prisoner begged for his family's life, in exchange for them to kill himself instead. Only one of the children escaped, of course. But they got rid of the others. She still can hear them begging, crying as they got their heads cut off one by one.

What a fun day that was!

Her parents didn't have all the adults killed, mind you. They couldn't just leave a bunch of orphans alone! That would just be nonsense! Just the most troublesome of the lot.

Like The Potters, my god they were foolish! Of course, the Dark Lord nearly killed them too years before, except he left a little lightning shaped scar on their idiot of a child's forehead before he was taken down. They just had their heads cut off, crying for their child and the husband saying it'd be ok while his wife cried for him as he went to the gallows. Absolutely repulsive.

And The Snapes. They were always meddlesome, so they had their throats slit. The pair of them were holding hands the whole time while it happened, for some idiotic reason surely. Charisse thought that was stupid. What did they expect to happen? They'd walk into the afterlife together? They'll just rot in the ground, everyone does. It was no wonder they didn't die earlier with that attitude! Plus, Charisse was fairly sure one of their children died one a few days earlier, so it was all the more fun of an execution.

They killed those Wrights, they were just weird hippies as far as Charisse could tell or care, so they were chained up and left to be fed to her precious Jabberwocky. He sure enjoyed that treat! It was fresh, just like he liked it. Plus she was fairly sure they ate a lot, so there was a lot for her precious Jabber-baby to feast on.

There was the Salvatores, who had a bunch of older kids, who most where killed through an enclosed fire. If she remembers correctly, only three survived, including an ex-boyfriend of hers who she was particularly out of favour with as of late. Of course, _she_ was the one being nice, she didn't have his head cut off after she decided to end it with him. He should be thankful, at the very least!

Then there's were those Greenleys, sure a weird bunch. Their killing was a bit of a lasting memory on Charisse, mostly because she can remember that the wife of the family was begging for the life of some little cretin she was pregnant with at the time, herself being fairly along, but that was just a two-for-one, wasn't it? Plus her husband nearly dragged his half-broken body to her to comfort her before they killed her. So caring even while he was dying.

It made Charisse disgusted. Can't they any of them die with some damn dignity?

But of course, even Charisse got bored of that. She was always an easily bored child, she was never content for long. And she didn't feel her parents were as strict of rulers as they could have been, so after they did their dirty work, she disposed of them. She just went and talked to the minions of her parents, and she always had such a way with persuasion, it was only a matter of time before they went to work for her anyway! If she thinks back far enough, she can see the scared looks on her parents' faces as they cried for their "sweet, precious little girl to spare them".

God, they sure were annoying!

Personally though, Charisse can name off easily those who ticked her off.

There's rabbit girl, the one with the dumb radishes for earrings. She'd blow the trumpet at her and her court's croquet games, looking scared afterwards. Charisse thought she was weird.

Then there's those _flower_ people. They were always so happy, for some weird reason! But they gave her all the red red roses she wanted, not like they had a choice not to, mind you.

There's that cat boy. Oh god, not him. Charisse thought for the longest time she liked him, but he turned out to be more annoying than everyone else combined. Plus he wore dumb clothes.

Come to think of it, everyone annoyed her. Charisse was never fun to hang around because of that. Minus the fact she solved her problems through separated the problem maker's head from their bodies, but that's besides the point.

Maybe if everyone stopped acting like twits she wouldn't have to resort to that.

The doors of the hall burst open, and a tall boy with dark hair and in his matching black steel armour swaggered in, his scarred eye covered by the heart patch she had made for him.

"Vinceny-poo!" Charisse said sweetly, running up to him and hugging him. "You Knave, where have you been lurking?

Vincent was a Knave of one of the upper families in the Dark Lord's approval before he fell. After that, his family was loyal to the Reds, and Vincent as such was sole protector of the Queen. He did a sort of half-smile at her. He was never one for affection, but for her he made the exception.

"How was your hunt?" Charisse said, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly.

"Excellent," Vincent said as the Red knights marching in behind him in their red steel armour, clinging their heart tipped lances to their chests.

Vincent pulled a sack off his back, and roughly tossed it on the ground at Charisse's feet. She stepped back slightly as a small yelp came out of it, and a white bulldog poked his head out, staring up at her with his great big eyes, looking frightened.

"Belongs to the Cheshire," Vincent explained. "He can sniff anyone out, and i have the feeling we'll be needing him,"

He pulled out a scroll from his belt, and unrolled it, revealing the Oraculum.

"Can you believe it? We found it in the forest neat Witzen, completely deserted! Well, i reckon the ran away when they heard us coming, expect for these two idiots," Vincent said.

Just then, two boy in matching yellow and red outfits were pushed forward, non too gently either! One was tall and lanky with red hair while the other was shorter with messy black hair and glasses. Both of their hands were locked to each other.

"I thought you could use a new set of Court Jesters," Vincent said.

"Wait, new ones? What the hell happened to the previous jesters?" Ron asked despite himself.

"They got their heads cut off, idiot," Vincent said tartly, glaring at the pair of them viciously. "Do you like them, my Queen?"

Charisse, however, was distracted by the ink drawing on the Oraculum, making her face go red.

"Who's _that_?" She said, her face turning angry once again.

Vincent went to look at it with her, frowning slightly. "On Frabjous Day...?"

"I know that wild tangle of hair anywhere, is that ... no, it can't be Alice, can it?" Charisse hissed, her hands shaking as if she was about to rip the Oraculum in half. "What is she doing to my darling Jabberwocky?"

Vincent's face went blank. "Er... She appears to be slaying it."

Charisse dropped the Oraculum on the ground and grabbed onto Vincent's collar instead, infuriated

"She's going to kill my _Jabbey-baby-Wocky_?!" she bellowed, looking like an angry bird of prey, shaking Vincent back and forth.

"Well i supose so...?" Vincent said, sounding frightened. Charisse looked to be boiling over, and he added hastily, "No unless she stop her, of course!"

Charisse let go of him, and stared, her eyes wide in revelation. Her mouth curling upwards into a smirk. "_Alice_? You mean that little one who snuck into my castle and painted the roses red and beat me at croquet all those years ago. The one everyone thought was dead, that one? You think we can top her when she somehow came over death?"

"No" Harry said weakly, frowning slightly. "She just hit her head and snuck out and just came back like, three hours ago, pretty much everyone knows that though."

If Ron's hands weren't bound, he'd smack himself in the head in aggravation

"You're kidding, dum dum!" Charisse said, beaming viciously at Harry. Harry bowed his head, looking ashamed.

"Sniff her out! I WANT HER HEAD OFF!" Charisse screamed.

She bent down to the bulldog, who had their ears were pinned back in fear. "Can you track her down?"

The bulldog nodded his head frantically and Charisse shot up, pointing at Vincent.

"Find her and bring her to me as soon as you can," Charisse said, jabbing him in the chest with her staff.

"But, what if someone tries to hide her..?" Vincent asked, staring wide-eyed at her.

"Simple enough," Charisse said viciously. "Bring them here so i can get their head on a platter!"

* * *

Alice pushed her way out of the thick plant life. Stupid Wonderland inhabitants. For being her dream, they sure didn't help! All they did was laugh at her and make her feel like she was just some joke, a non-worthy copy of some other Alice, as if she didn't already get enough from that from Pansy and everyone else in her life. And no she apparently had to save them? As if! They didn't deserve her help, she didn't even think she could accomplish it anyway, even if that damned scroll said otherwise.

She walked towards the forest, stepping over the tree roots and feeling angrier and more defeated than she has in her whole life. Alice felt the journal still in her belt, so she pulled it out. She opened it to a new page and began reading.

"_Greenley came over today. I always enjoyed his company. He is always one of sure pure optimism and conviction that you really can't dislike the man. Plus, he always brought over little gifts for the children, which being a Hatter and all, you know it all comes from his own hard work. I do hope he and the wife enjoy the gift we got for their soon-to-be new arrival. They're having a girl this time around. I believe by what Lily told me they'd be naming her Maisie. A lovely name, really. I hope she'll be good friends with the rest of the children,…_"

As Alice read, she stepped into the opening of the dark forest, which was tinged green where there was light seeping through. However, unnoticed by Alice, there was someone watching her from the shadows.

"You lost?" asked a smooth voice, calling out from the darkness.

Alice stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide. She snapped the journal shut. "W - Who's there?"

"Oh dear, you are lost!" the voice repeated, a slight giggle in their tone. "Well, i wouldn't be surprised. Judging by your arm there, you ran a foul into something with _wicked_ claws."

Alice looked up, where a large tree branch was, saw a blue and black striped tail flick her in the nose playfully, the little golden jewellery hanging from it jingling slightly.

There was a sudden mist of colourful fog, and a pair of lanky legs with odd looking boots (they were painted to look like cats' feet) were hanging down from the branch, swinging slightly.

Alice stared as the person pulled themselves out of the shadows, revealing a tall, skinny boy with wild, black and blue streaked hair grinning down at her with a wide smile on his pale, hooked-nose face.

Her eyes got wide in shock as she stared at him in disbelief. His eyes were the same shade of bright green that she had remembered from her dreams some time ago. Except she never remembered them being connected to anyone before! Before she could ask anything, he disappeared in a puff of the same blue smoke he had arrived under.

She went to sigh when he magically reappeared, towering over her. "Do i know you from somewhere?"

Alice yelped and spun around to face him, clinging to the journal. The boy giggled. "You're a little jumpy today, aren't you?"

"Why shouldn't i be? You're a cat person!" Alice snapped at him. She had nothing against cats, but he was a different story all together.

The boy pouted at her, the pointy ears of his drooping downwards . "Well that's not very nice! Fine! I'll leave you then!

He crossed his arms over his chest, and backed up into the light. Alice got a better look at him then.

He was dressed in baggy black pants, which had the same blue colour of his streaks on them. He had green and grey striped socks on under them, going into his cat paw-like boots, and he had a dark striped shirt on, which was under an elaborately designed blue and black, angular vest. His ears were pierced with multiple earrings, and he seemed to be wearing multiple accessories, like bracelets and overly large belts, which his tail seemed to keep up for him considering how skinny he was. but there was one thing in particular that was the long, golden armour he had on his forearms, which were decorated with tiny sapphires and were shaped to his hands, which were razor sharps claws.

As if he should be concerned about her running into "wicked claws", he'd look like he'd scar up anyone who got too close to him!

The boy glared her, his bright green eyes slits and looking mutinous. Then he noticed the necklace on her neck.

His eyes widened and he stepped quickly towards her, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her into the light.

"_Hey_!" Alice exclaimed. she did not need any more people yanking her around, thank you, especially from sone who had weapons for arm decorations.

But the boy ignored her, and grabbed the end of the necklace and tiled it upwards so he could see it. His eyes darted back and forth as he read it, and when he looked back at her, his eyes were wide in disbelief.

Alice stared back at him awkwardly, not sure what to say, when the boy went down and hugged her tightly, and lifted her off the ground.

"Okay, why am i up? Let me down," Alice said weakly as the weird cat boy hugged her for no reason she could see. What's up with him? Alice awkwardly patted him on the back as if to soothe him, her feet dangling off the ground by nearly a foot.

The cat boy put her down after a few seconds, but he was still hugging her loosely, looking shocked for words.

"Alice…?" he asked, his brows furrowed.

"Y - Yes…?" Alice replied, slightly confused. What was going on now?

"Oh god," the cat boy said, yanking his arms away from her. "I should probably introduce myself, shouldn't i?"

"Yes, i'm sure that would prove a bit useful," Alice said simply.

"I'm Fred," the cat boy said, putting his claw gloved hand on his chest. "And your Alice Snape, and - oh dear - i have to find Rose!"

He grabbed her hand, and then he did, he noticed the journal in her other hand.

'What is that?" he asked, raising a dark brow to her.

"A journal, i found it," Alice said indignantly, "I found it in the tunnel,"

"Does it have "S.T.S." written in it?" Fred asked. How'd he know that?

"It does! But how did you - ?" Alice asked, looking baffled.

Fred shushed her. "In due time, sweetie. I'll answer everything when we find Rose, okay? Now, let me lead the way, we're not that far from the flower glen anyway,"

Fred pulled forward, and Alice was yanked along as he started eagerly walking back the way she came, except this time, he took a slight turn to the left, leading them down another path through the thick plant life.

He was hard to keep up with, considered how much longer his strides were and how quick he was going, but Alice kept up nonetheless. Fred had an excited grin on his face, and pushing through the vines flowing down from the trees in the area, he came to an opening of rocks, where a small group of people already were.

"Sam!" Fred said exuberantly, addressed one of them.

A very curvy girl, who had rich olive skin and dressed in a short, blue dress with curved up tips, jumped up from her group of bluebell flowers, who were buzzing around in excited tones. Her shoulder length, purple hair (which was decorated with bluebells) went against her orange-like eyes, and she smiled happily as Alice and Fred approached her.

"Have you seen Rose?" Fred asked. He glanced towards Alice. "I found her."

Her eyes widened. "Are you serious? Is this her?"

Sam looked over Alice, in her awfully ruined underdress, which made Alice feel quite ugly compared to how well everyone else seemed to be so finely dressed there.

"Absolutely, she has the Snape pendant and everything!" Fred said in a jubilant tone.

Sam smiled, and turned back to her flowers. She bend down and said in a caring tone, "Go off to sleep, loves, mummy has family to deal with right now."

The bluebells mused, and snuggled up together, and went to sleep. Some of them even snored, making their petals fluttered slightly.

Sam sighed lovingly. "They're so cute when they sleep."

She turned back to them, beaming at them. "You must be so confused! As Fred told you anything?"

"He said he was going to when we found someone named Rose," Alice replied.

Sam smiled at her sadly. "Oh, well, they'll be able to catch you up on everything, i'm sure,"

She went up on her toes and pecked Fred on the cheek, making his flutter his eyes at her. "Oh stop, you're embarrassing me!"

Sam giggled as a new voice sounded.

"No way," said the voice, and a new girl joined them. She looked like Ron, but much prettier, which long, ginger hair and light brown eyes. her face covered in freckles. This girl had daffodils in her hair instead, and her flowy yellow dress matched them. "Is it really you, Al?"

Alice didn't know why, but she felt much more comfortable around these girls than the others she ran across, mostly because they weren't tell her she had to fight a terrifying beast and were doubting who she was.

"Have you seen Rose, Ginny?" Fred asked hopefully.

"She'll be right, she just left to put the daisies to bed for their afternoon nap." Ginny said. She looked at Alice, and smiled at her. "Are you happy to be back?"

"I - em , " Alice started slowly. She furrowed her brows, and Ginny gave her a confused look.

"Gins," Fred whispered from the side of his mouth. "You remember her _accident_, right? It was a while ago but…"

"Oh - oh yeah! Sorry," Ginny said. Sam looked guilty and said "Sorry" hastily, and Alice gave them a sad little smile.

There was a clicking noise, and they turned to see a boy with longish blond hair swagger into view, dressed in green trousers and upturned orange shoes, which matched his long, curved up jacket that was coloured in yellows and blended into bright red at the tips. He had a shining dagger in his hand, and was banging it against random rocks.

"Thank you for joining us today, Jack!" Sam said with a hint of passive aggressiveness.

"I tell you, rhododendrons are _always_ like this," Sam whispered to Alice. Alice just nodded like she understood.

"I was busy with Hare, so excuse me for my tardiness." the boy named Jack said irritably.

"You know he hates being called that, right?" Ginny said, raising a brow to the newcomer.

"I do, that's why i call him that still." Jack snickered. "He threw a teacup at me though."

"Nice," Alice said, giggling slightly.

Jack turned and looked at her, and his eyes widened slightly after a moment. "Er, Fred...?"

"It's her, yes," Fred said happily.

"No way," Jack said breathlessly. Jack turned back to the tall vines he had just came out of and yelled, "Ina! Get over here!"

There was a rustling noise, and a slender girl with dark skin and long, silky dark brown hair sauntered out, dressed in fabrics of rich oranges and reds, multiple golden bracelets and necklaces hanging off the girl. Little saraca asoca flowers, lined her hair.

Her angular, brown eyes looked at Alice in surprise.

"Well, long time no see!" she said in her soothing voice. "Where ever did you find her, Frederick?"

"By accident," Fred said with a shrug. "But we found her! So that's all that matters-"

Just then, a girl with dark red hair appeared carrying a small bit of gardening supplies, a crown of red roses and green thorns on her head. Her dress was red like her hair, and the skirt was decorated and layered like a literal rose was, and like the the Sam and Ginny, there were thin vines twirling around her arms and legs.

"Rose!" Fred said excitedly, and the girl turned and noticed him.

"Oh," the girl named Rose said, her bright green eyes looking not nearly as enthusiastic to see him. 'What is it - "

Rose caught sight of Alice, and she stopped mid sentence, staring at her in awe.

"Is - is that …?" Rose asked weakly, pointing to her, her arm shaking slightly.

Fred nodded excitedly. "Damn right it is."

"How can you be sure?" Rose asked, looking fidgety, like she was resisting the urge to run towards them.

"Look, she has the pendant," Fred said, pointing to Alice's necklace. "And-"

Fred yanked the journal out of Alice's hands.

"Hey!" Alice said, looking peeved. "Give that back!"

Fred ignored her. "She found dad's journal!"

Rose dropped what was in her arms and ran up to them, and embraced Alice in a hug much like Fred had given her, except with less lifting her up. Fred stepped forward, standing near by Rose and smiling at the pair of them, putting the journal inside the pocket of his vest.

"Oh god, he found you, we knew you'd come back," Rose said sounding choked up, stroking Alice's hair. She wasn't much taller than Rose, leaving Alice at about eye height with Rose's shoulders. "We thought we lost you. Mum and dad thought they lost you -"

Rose lifted her head back slightly to look Alice over. She smiled at her, faint tear streaks on her face, and Alice couldn't help but smile back. She gave off such a familiar air, Alice couldn't really help it. But she did say something odd, and Alice had to ask.

"What do you mean by "mum and dad"?" Alice asked.

Rose and Fred gave each other side long looks, then looked back at Alice.

"Alice," Rose started. "You're our sister."

There was a dreary silence. Alice stared in shock at the two of them, backing away slightly.

"No, you can't be," Alice said feebly, her eyes feeling oddly watery. "This is a _dream_, i'm an orphan and i have no family, that's how it's been my whole _life_. I'm just a nuisance-"

Sam gave Ginny, Ina, and Jack a silent look and they backed out of the area, leaving them alone.

Rose looked at Fred, her brows furrowed. "Fred, we have to tell her everything."

Alice gave them disbelieving looks, and Rose held Alice's hand. For the life of her, Alice didn't feel like yanking her hand away, even though she knew she should have.

"Here, come on, just sit and we'll explain, and after we bandage up that wound of yours," Rose said, eyeing the scratches on Alice's arms. She directed Alice, who was blinking back tears, gently to the dullest rock she could find.

They sat down, either one of side of Alice. Fred snapped his wrist quickly, and he produced a piece of light blue fabric in his hands.

Alice gave him an apprehensive look, wiping her eyes, and Fred said, "You're lucky i'm here. You need someone with evaporating skills like myself to make sure it doesn't infester and putrefy."

He put the fabric around Alice's wounded arm and put it in a bind snuggly. After he was done, Rose took a deep breath, and looked at Alice, not sure where to start.

"Um," Alice said slowly, Was this not a dream after all? Was that bandersnatch chasing her real? And what the Oraculum said as well?

"Pinch me," Alice said suddenly, and Fred and Rose stared at her in confusion.

"What?" Fred asked, looking uncertain.

"Prove to me this isn't a dream, since i always wake up anytime i get pinched in a dream, i hardly ever got a good night's sleep with Pansy aroound. Show me this isn't just me in a sad little made up world that i created in my head to cope with the sadness, please," Alice said, a slight begging noise in her voice.

Fred gave Rose a shrug, and pinched Alice as hard as her could on her arm.

"Ow!" Alice snapped loudly, rubbing her arm and looking outraged. "What was that for?

Fred looked affronted. "You said to pinch you!"

"Not that hard!" Alice said irritably.

"Oh my god, what do you want from me?" Fred said, sounding dramatic.

Rose started giggling. "You two are so dumb,"

Fred and Alice glared at each other, but in the fit of Rose laughing Fred had to stop himself from doing so as well, He put his arm behind Alice and nudged Rose in the arm playfully and said "Come on, we still have to prove to her this is real,"

"Oh! Yea, um," Rose said, trying to regain herself back. "Okay, well, i'm the first born. You and Fred came about a year later. You look an awful lot like mum, and she was beautiful. But you have dad's hair and eyes, and i'm pretty sure you have his brains too, seeing as you found his journal. He hid it really well. Fred and i have been looking for it for years and you just randomly got to it! Plus, you passed the door challenge, obviously, since you're here! You made that whole system up, you said no "normal" person could get beyond it, but you made it through! And, oh! This is just a random bit, but when you were born, Uncle Sirius couldn't tell you or Fred apart, so he accidentally dressed Fred up in your little dresses by mistake-"

"Wait, i'm your twin-?" Alice said, looking at Fred.

"Unfortunately so," Fred said smoothly. "Obviously _i_ got the better looks, but you know-"

Rose smacked him in the arm and continued. "You always used to spit up anytime mum tried to feed your any sort of beans. You loathe them, you'd throw them at Fred as revenge for him being an arse. You always loved guitar playing, and pink is your favourite colour. You have a beauty mark behind your left ear, and you adore red heads..."

"Oooooh, i _know_ she likes red heads," Fred said in a knowing tone, laughing slightly.

Rose punched him in the arm and Fred went "Ow! What the hell?"

"Shut up! She doesn't remember before her accident!" Rose hissed at him.

"She'll remember eventually!" Fred snapped back. "You know, or whatever other cryptic shit Evan would say."

"She is very cryptic, isn't he?" Alice said. "Personally, he kinda ticked me off,"

Fred looked at her in confusion. "You ran into him?"

"Well, yea, that Luna girl and her friends brought me to him." Alice explained.

"Which friends?" Fred asked.

"Hermione, the little mouse one,"

"Ah, my dear chasing partner," Fred said dreamily. "She's a good sport,"

"And that Zachary boy," Alice said.

Rose blushed pink and Fred giggled. "You mean Rosie's boyfriend?"

"I guess so!" Alice said, trying not to chuckle at Rose's flushed face. "Oh! And the two idiot ones, Ron and Harry."

"Hey! They're not idiots, they're funny!" Fred said defensively.

"And i'm pretty sure Fred is in love with Harry anyway," Rose smirked.

Maybe they _were_ her relatives after all, Rose was mentioning things no one else knew about her, and they were already bickering like siblings did. And, Alice couldn't help but notice, her and Rose fairly similar.

"How does my pendant tell we're related though?" Alice asked. That seemed to be the biggest identification system to who she was here.

"Oh! Well, we have ours too!" Rose said simply. She pulled free one of the necklaces around her neck, and showed the gold pendant around her own neck. "Snape" was written on it just like it was for Alice's, and it had a small garnet on it.

Alice turned towards Fred, and he showed the one around his neck. Just like her's and Rose's, except his had a small emerald on it.

"Why do you two have different jewels on it…?" Alice asked.

"It's the way here," Fred said, putting his pendant back under his shirt. "You have a little pink jewel one on yours, right?"

"Yes," Alice answered.

"Well, the whole thing was put in place after _They_ took over," Fred said in a displeased tone. "Just to keep us all in line and to put us into different castes so we'd all be treated like shit accordingly. The creatures or sub-creatures like me get emeralds if you're a boy, opals if you're a girl."

"And the, uh, what's the proper term? Flower person?" Alice asked, looking at Rose.

"That's right," Rose said soothingly. "And i have a garnet since i'm a sub-plant female. Full or sub-plant males have sapphires instead. Meanwhile, you, as a human female, get an amethyst, while just human males would get aquamarines. If they're something else completely, they get an opal on their pendant, it's just the caste system here."

"But i guess it helped in this case, didn't it?" Fred said, cutting Rose off. "It helped us find you again-!"

Alice cocked a brow at them. "_They_? Who's "They?"

Fred sighed, and Rose shifted uncomfortable in her seat.

"You tell her, Fred," Rose said, poking him in the arm. "You tell stories better."

Fred rolled his eyes. "Fine… Where do i start…."

"Here's the thing," Fred started. "Some time ago, this place was in fact, a paradise. However, lingering threats of worse to come were always there. I mean, we have dragons walking around and no one bats an eye to it. Before the Dark Lord fell, which i'm sure you read in dad's journal, he pretty much failed to his inadequate followers decades before most of us were born, everything was fear and death, but that was only the tip of the sword of what was coming for us years after he was long gone. No, we had peaceful monarchs in place to fix what he had destroyed."

"The White Kingdom was kind and compassionate to their people, we and our elders could roam without fear that we would be killed at any moment. But even then, that was short-lived. The rising power, known as the Reds through their love of the blood colour and their vicious nature, were once one of The Dark Lord's most loyal followers, but come his demise they slunk back into the shadows, and started a family."

"They had a small daughter, who they named Charisse, and though she had the beauty of her mother, she had the evil nature of her father before her, maybe even more so. Where in those who saw her as a young, innocent little girl was in fact the cruel, manipulative poison of what really were behind those dark grey eyes of her. Come when we were about, i believe five? The Reds had intercepted their way into the inner workings of the ruling kingdom, and through that of lies, fear, and murder, they had gained those easily tricked to join behind them in an army, and they drove the peaceful rulers out from their throne. In fact, much like tradition in their Lord, they had the King and Queen, and two of their daughters, heads cut right off. Some say their skulls litter the surrounding area of castle, and their blood used to repaint the castle a sick red hue. As for the third daughter, she escaped, and is in hiding, eager for the day to regain her rightful place on the throne."

"Sadly, this is not where the story ends! The Reds, upon having their power as the monarchs put into place, acquired the help of the monstrous Jabberwocky to be under their control, and through this beast they started their hunt. Our parents and those with them, who worked tirelessly against The Dark Lord before, were their targets, and my, the Jabberwocky and its master were not ones to hesitate to strike them down! They hid us from their wrath once they started their rampage, and in their sacrifices we survived while our parents perished. However, there was you, Alice. You snuck out of this place through that rabbit hole, the very same one that you fell down in just awhile ago, before they came for us."

"But our parents, thought heartbroken that you had been lost, were glad that you were safe in that "normal" world, since you always seemed the most unremarkable of the three of us, and would easily blend into that world. There's me, who can disappear and reappear at whim, not to mention attack with ease, and Rose with her abilities to lead and care for the flowers, but there was you. You did none of that. You were content to exploring and reading and going to those tea parties, but you couldn't talk to creatures or control wind, you were just … Alice. And you escaped. You escaped while me and Rose were stuck in hiding as mother and father were killed, hoping if you were happy in your new life in the new world, and we always hoped and longed you would come back, and we waited, and waited…"

"Finally, come nearly a few weeks after our parents and their friends were killed, the Red King and Queen were overthrown, by none other than their own young daughter. She was so cruel and talented in her manipulations, she had them killed by their own minions to have her placed on the thrown as the new Queen. She was young, yes, but she was powerful. And i believe, in her power, it drove her to madness. I mean, madder than what is normal for us, we do live in Wonderland, after all."

Alice stared at him in utter shock. "Wait, but if i escaped, how did i forget...?"

"Oh, _that_," Fred said sadly. "Well, we were playing hide and seek, you see. And you, god, we were so young then, you slipped on one of those damned rocks and hit your head. We carried you back home after we found you, and dad tried to get your memories back, but it was no use. You just, _forgot_."

Fred sighed. "The next day you ran away because you were walking around in the forest by yourself and saw fire and heard the Jabberwocky killing the neighbours, so you ran up the rabbit hole, which sealed right as you left. Me and Rose tried to open it afterwards when we realise mum and dad were gone. It didn't work, not until recently, at least. Hence why Luna was able to go looking for you. She'd give us reports about you and stuff. But they never sounded good."

"Those damn people up there!" Rose snapped suddenly, looking infuriated. "Luna told us what she saw how they treated you. Like utter garbage! We were so mad, mum and dad would _never_ stand for that-"

"Well, what's done is done, you can't help that," Alice said quietly. She looked at them. "What were mum and dad like?"

"Oh Alice," Rose said, holding onto her hand. "They were wonderful. I mean, i'm sure you read some in dad's journal?"

Alice nodded, and Rose continued. "Dad's name was Severus, he had no special powers like you, and he ended everything he wrote with his initials S.T.S., the T meaning his middle name, Tobias. That was his father's name. Anyway, he was pretty strict but he really loved us, he'd go to hell and back just to make sure we were happy. He used to do potions and would serve the White Kingdom with his great intelligence. And mum! Oh how he loved her, they both loved each other so much. Mum was named Lily, and she was a flower orientated person like me."

"How is Fred half-cat then?" Alice inquired.

"It's the same one Grandpa Fred had," Fred said simply. "It kinda skipped a generation and i was left with it instead. Not that i mind, i dig the tail."

"Anyway," Rose continued, looking annoyed that Fred cut her off. "Mum was very loving to us. She was very protective and would threaten to tangle up anyone who messed with her little babies. She was so amazing. She was nonsense but she knew how to be fun and bring it out of dad as well. They'd compliment in each other in that they could be so different but bring the very best out of each other."

Rose exhaled. "I miss them."

Fred patted Rose from behind Alice and as he did, Alice quickly hugged Rose.

"But we have each other, right?" Alice said, holding onto Rose.

Rose hugged her back. "Of course we do, we can be a family again, it's what they would have wanted."

"You know i think they would have wanted too," Fred said, picking the hem of Alice's dress with his nose crinkled at. "You not to have such a ghastly thing on."

Fred looked excited all of a sudden. "Oh! Rose, let's bring her to the Hatter!"

"Okay honestly, why is everyone referring everyone else by their titles today?" Rose asked, huffing slightly. "That's not even his name."

"Well we're going anyway," Fred said surely, helping Alice up. "Come on, you'll love him,"

"_Fred_," Rose said in a low tone. "I know what you're trying to do and it won't work! Her memories aren't there-!"

"But they _will_, and that's the important part," Fred said certainly. He linked his arm with Alice's. "Alice, don't listen to her. You'll love him, he's the sweetest guy i know. They should be having tea by now."

"Well, um," Alice started with a slight shrug. "I am a bit famished, i could go for a cup."

Fred waved to her. "_Definitely_. You've been through a lot today. Now come along, we gotta get going before any vultures try and pick us out."

He linked his arm around Rose so he was in the middle. "Let's go, ladies."

Against her will, Rose was dragged along as Fred eagerly directed them along into the forest, his tail flicking back and forth.

"Hopefully they don't notice me walk in," Fred said as they walked through the thick forest. "They never invite me to their tea parties, for some odd reason."

"It's because you're an arse, Fred." Rose said, annoyed.

"Oh but i'm the life of the party!" Fred corrected her. "Plus, i don't reckon Branin likes me very much."

"Which one is he?" Alice asked.

"The Hare," Fred answered. "He has dumb rabbit ears and a tail and he's an idiot,"

"Oh really? Because you insult him all the time, i wonder why he'd not like you very much then," Rose said up-tightly.

"Listen, just because you're harbouring a secret fancyin' for him doesn't mean you have to get snippy with me," Fred joked.

Rose's face flushed red and she said "No i do not! I already have a boyfriend!"

"And Branin has very nice hair so i don't blame ya' if your eyes be wanderin'!" Fred remarked. "Now Matt, you'll like him, he's a little more stable than his sidekick is,"

"And that's the Hatter?" Alice asked.

"Yes, Fred tries to steal his hat all the time," Rose said, still slightly red in the face. "Probably another why they never invite him,"

"Also because Hermione stabs me a lot," Fred added knowingly.

"She's the Dormouse of their crew," Fred explained, noticing Alice's confused face. "But i forgive them."

"Him and Hermione go waaaaaay back," Rose giggled. "They used to chase each other all the time through the forests. Cat versus mouse type of thing."

"I had bad allergies when i was little so i'd sneeze half way through our chase and i'd disappear without meaning to," Fred said, an amused expression on his face. "Thankfully my disappearing skills have gotten much better since then."

Alice imagined a younger Fred chasing after an even smaller Hermione, and him stopping midway only to sneeze and go invisible by accident. It made her laugh despite herself.

As they walked, Alice kept asking more and more questions about their lives, and the pair of them were more than happy to oblige. Rose explained that her job as a flower citizen was to care for the plant life with those in her same caste. Fred, as a creature citizen, was supposed to care for other creatures in the area. However, considering it was Fred, he wasn't very good at any sort of "job" he was supposed to anyway.

They cleared out of the forest, and a faint noise of violins could be heard.

"Oh, we're close!" Fred said elatedly.

He turned to Rose. "You take Alice the rest of the way, i have a surprise for cottontail,"

"You do that," Rose said apathetically, rolling her eyes. She grabbed Alice's hand and they walked the rest of the way as Fred evaporated away.

"So he just *poofs* away?" Alice asked as they began to walk again.

"Yep," Rose said. "He can pretty much get himself out of any situation because of it. Awkward social meetings, doing his job. Maybe even get out of jail! But he hasn't had to do that,"

"_Yet_," Alice said.

Rose laughed. "Yea, it's only a matter of time for him, isn't it?"

They walked up through a thicket of teal weeping willows, Alice saw the outline of a long table covered in trays of food and many decorated tea sets lining the table. For whatever reason, the two people who were already there seemed to be fast asleep.

Rose lead Alice up to the table and let go of her hand. She walked up the closer in habitant, a boy with longish brown whose face was snoozing on a dinner plate, and poked him in the head.

"Hey, wake up," Rose said. They did not budge. She poked them again, and they did not stir.

Rose rolled her eyes and, pushing his hair slightly, yanked roughly on one of greyish brown rabbit ears.

The boy yelped and shoot up, clinging a spoon to his chest with both hands, looking around quickly. Alice noticed he had an earth tone, plaid vest on ove rhis bright yellow undershirt, going along with his dark green trousers and wearing an overly large, light brown duster jacket with patches on it.

"I did nothing don't hurt me," he said in a rush, his icy blue eyes wide in bewilderment. He turned to the right and saw Rose standing there, her hand on his chair. "Oh hi Rose,"

"Hi Branin," Rose said sweetly. "Mind waking up your boyfriend for me?"

Branin turned to the left, his rabbit ears pecking up, to look at the top hat-donned companion, whose bandaged up arms were hanging off the side of their chair as they slept. Branin readjusted the bright green scarf around his neck and looked at the spoon in his hands.

"Spoooooon," he said dazedly.

"Yea, it's very nice," Rose said. "Wake him up, please,"

Branin looked momentarily bewildered and after a moment, he chucked it at his sleeping companion. It hit the hat squarely at the base and the wearer were startled awake.

"Hey Matty," Rose said in a happy tone. "Look who we found."

Rose stepped aside, allowing Alice to have a full appearance now. Their face was in shadow due to the brim of the top hat, so Alice couldn't exactly get a good view of his face.

"Rose?" Alice asked weakly. "Do i just stand here or do i -?"

Alice was cut off, however, as she was lifted up off the ground again by a pair of muscular arms, hugging her tightly.

"It's you. Yer're back, yer're back," they said in their scottish accent, swinging her slightly. "I thought i'd lost ya', i was so scared,"

Alice put her arms around their broad shoulders to keep her balance, and they loosened their grip slightly to be face to face.

The boy was handsome, _very_ handsome He had a strong chin, and Alice was so close to his face, she could see the slight freckles on his nose. Bright, wavy red hair went in the way of his blueish green eyes, and he was smiling at her, his grin completely infectious. She couldn't help but smile at him in return.

Alice blushed red and his smile flattered. He realised what he was doing and set her down. Rose and Branin, however, were trying not to laugh.

"Oh my god, i'm sorry," he said, blushing red. "I just - it's been so long -"

"Oh _honestly_ Matty," Branin said, waving a broken tea cup at him. "Be embarassing yourself on the first date back, only you..."

Matthew glared at him, crossing his arms over his chest. "And your one to talk! You threw a spoon at me!"'

"Well it got you the hell up, didn't it? And i wasn't the one gettin' a hug," Branin said indignantly. He picked up a tea pot. "Rose dear, would you like to join us?"

"Most certainly," Rose said with a slight curtsy. Branin pat the seat left of his and Rose sat down and he poured her a cup.

Matthew, however, turned his attention back to Alice, who was grinning up at him.

"Do i know you?" she asked, raising a brow to him.

Matthew looked surprised. "You - you don't remember me?"

Alice's grin went flat, and she shook her head.

He looked absolutely crushed now, and Branin frowned at the situation, his ears flopping downwards.

There was an awkward silence, but Matthew said, "That - that's fine, really. You've been gone fer almost a decade an' a half, i wouldn't expect ya' to remember everything,"

"Also she hit head really bad," said a disembodied voice, and Fred appeared out of nowhere next to Branin. Branin yelped and backed up frantically into his chair, clinging the tea pot to his chest and kicking his feet onto the table, revealing that he had the same rabbit feet designed shoes like Luna had.

"Who invited _you_?" Branin hissed, looking like he was about to hit Fred over the head with the tea pot.

"I invited myself, obviously," Fred said, picking up a tea cup and flicking Branin in the nose with his tail. Branin's nose scrunched up and his stuck his tongue out at him angrily.

"Oh," Matthew said, looking back at Alice. "So you don't - ?"

"Rose and Fred have been filling in for me," Alice said sadly. "I'm sorry,"

"No, no! Don't feel bad!" Matthew said, his brows furrowed. "It's fine, honest! Ya' didn't miss much anyway! I mean, it's pretty much been hell here, and i don't just mean that with ya' not here an' all-"

"Nuh uuuuuh," Branin said, cutting him off. "You missed him a few years back, he was all scrawny. You'd give him a hug and get a papercut-!"

"I was still barely in my teens, ya' bastard!" Matthew snapped at him.

"Okay_ Mad Hatter,_ you can explain the rest later," Fred said, waving his tea cup at him. "How about you invite her to tea?"

"Oh! um," Matthew looked at Alice, red in the face. "Would you, er, like to join us?"

"Sure," Alice said, trying not to giggle at his awkwardly cute actions. She held out her hand and Matthew grabbed it, beaming at her, and directed her towards the end of the table where his chair was.

Matthew glanced at Fred. "And that's Matt Hatter to you, grimalkin."

"As ya' cans see," Matthew said to make small talk as they walked down the length of the table. "We're having tea. We three do this a lot fer fun."

"Fred mentioned that," Alice said as Rose went to get herself sugar. "Where's the other one though? Hermione? I don't see her on any of the chairs or-"

"Well she's gotta be here somewhere," Matthew said. He looked around. "Dormouse, where are ya'?"

One of the tea cups' lids popped open, and Hermione stuck her face out, looking sleepy, a spoon nearly as big as her in hand. "Who called?"

Hermione opened her eyes wider and saw Alice. "Hey! Where did you go? We weren't done with the Oraculum!"

"I went for a walk," Alice said immediately, thinking on her toes. "Needed some fresh air, you know. It was kinda a lot to take in and all."

Hermione shrugged. "Point taken, miss."

"Oooooh, you saw the Oraculum?" Branin asked excitedly. "What was on it?"

"You gettin' a girlfriend who isn't out fer yer head," Matthew said in a snarky way.

Branin pouted at him, waving a butter-knife at him. "That was one time! And i'll have you know _i_ was the one who broke it off, not the other way around!"

"You wouldn't have a head if you broke it off, you clod," Fred said, shaking his heads.

"Oh _meow_," Branin mocked, glowering at him. "Don't you have to go cough up a hairball right about now or something?'

"Not until noon," Fred jested.

"Well i'm just sayin'," Matthew said a moment later with a slight apologetic tone to his voice. Branin just waved off his comments.

He turned back to Alice, and got her a chair next to his. Alice sat down as he took his own armchair.

"However," he continued happily. "Yer are back now, an' we can get reacquainted after all those lost years-"

"Like on the top of Matty's work-desk, or this table!" Fred said cheekily, patting the table roughly.

"Gotta make sure it's stable an' all," Fred said stupidly.

Matthew blushed red and look irritated with him. Fred just stuck his forked tongue at him and took another sip of his tea.

"That's your bloody sister you're talking about," Branin hissed at him, looking disgusted.

"Darling, i saw the Oraculum already, i already know how this story ends," Fred said before taking a sip of tea. "Which, by the way, Luna likes yellow poppies. Just keep that in mind if you want to get anywhere beyond handholding with her."

Branin's ears pecked up in hesitant interest, and Hermione just rolled her eyes at the pair of them.

"and Frabjous Day, don't forget that," Rose said, sipping at her tea and eyeing Fred with annoyance from the corner of her eyes.

"Is that today?" Matthew asked, looking optimistic.

"Well, more like two days, but close enough," Hermione said, hanging over the edge of her tea pot, swinging her spoon lazily.

"Oh Frabjous Day," Fred said, musing over his tea, his feet on the table, much to Branin's annoyance. "When we bring that Queen down and The White Queen is wearing her crown once again, i shall flutterwacken _vigorously_."

"Flutter-what?" Alice asked as Matthew poured her tea.

"It's a dance," Hermione explained, swinging her arms out.

"And Fred's quite good at it," Rose added proudly. She nudged Branin in the arm with her elbow. "Right?"

"He's quite good at being an arse, that's what he's good at," Branin grumbled. Rose rolled his eyes at him and pat him on the face, making him freeze and only wiggle his nose. Just like a rabbit would.

"Hence my britches here," Fred said, pointing to his baggy trousers. "They allow me to follow freely, which you need for wackin' of the flutter sort."

"Or yank them down to expose your knickers," Branin mused.

Fred stared at him, giving a questioning look and Branin said, "What?"

Matthew turned to Alice, giving her a coquettish look. "I've been considering words with the letter "M" recently. The first that comes to mind for me is _madly_,"

"Like "madly in love"?" Alice said, quirking a brow at him.

His mouth curved upwards into a grin, looking immensely charmed.

"Oh gag me," Hermione said, looking bored. "You're supposed to be slaying a Jabberwocky in a few days and you're making goggly eyes instead!"

"The Bloody Witch's pet, eh?" Matthew said, looking livid all of a sudden.

"The very same," Rose said, sipping on her tea.

"The bloody what?" Alice asked, looking puzzled.

"The Bloody Witch," Fred said, stirring his tea. "_Bloody_ meaning Red and _Witch_ meaning Queen, so, the Red Queen, dear ol' Charisse. Or The Bloody Witch, as we like to call her in these parts."

"Come, come, we must commence with the slaying an' such!" Matthew said, much more enthusiastic now. "So, in high time we shall be getting to slicing its head off and dethroning the Witch, or whatever comes first. Depending on which one is convenient."

Matthew pulled a picket watch out of his pocket. "Ah, we're still waiting."

Branin pulled out a similar one from his own pocket and went "Tick, Tick, Tick." and chuckled it behind him, and took another sip of his tea.

Matthew pocketed his own with a slight laugh.

Fred signed, looking at his tea cup woefully with his face resting on his propped up arm. "All this talk of blood and slaying has put me off my tea,"

"Well," Matthew said, trying to look collected until his voice became a seething tone. "The entire world is falling to ruin, an' poor Freddie is off his _tea_."

"What happened that day was not _my_ fault, we went through the same thing, remember? We _all_ did." Fred said lowly.

Matthew got a sudden furious look on his face, the brim of his hand shading his face, and he stood up, glowering at Fred.

"Ooooooh dear," Branin said, slinking down in his chair with his ears pinned down. Rose determinedly looked downwards, as if she was distracted by her tea. Hermione and Alice, however, watched intently.

"Ya' would go an' save yerself, wouldn't yeh though?" Matthew fumed, his accent really coming out now in his rage. He was stomping towards Fred down the length of the table, his fists clenched.

Fred's ears drooped down, his eyes wide in fear as his bottom lip trembled.

"Ya' godless featie! Bowfin, glaikit tosser! Ya eejit, shaan piece of mince!" Matthew ranted. "Clatty, scabby, skelly numpty!"

"Hatter!" Hermione shouted, banging her spoon on the table as hard as she could to make a racket.

Matthew turned back to her, looking unnerved.

"Thank you," he said weakly. Fred exhaled, looking panic-stricken. Upon inspection, it turned out Fred's claws had dug into the table through his anxiousness of Matthew rushing at it.

Branin giggled and said in a mocking tone, "_Meow_,"

Rose shot daggers at Branin, who just stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

Matthew coughed. "I'm fine..."

"Oh what happened to you, Matty?" Fred asked, frowning slightly. "You used to be the life of the party!"

"Maybe it's because you just annoy everyone you're around," Branin suggested.

"Or because i tried to teach him to dance and he has two left feet," Fred added knowingly.

"Don't listen to him, he's just an arse," said Matthew, walking back to his seat and addressing Alice.

"No, no, i got that the moment i ran into him," Alice said in a tiresome voice. Did certain words trigger him to remember horrid things from the past? She'd have to keep note of that for later.

"Oh, Matt, i forgot to ask," Fred said, looking away from Branin and chucking a sugar cube, hitting Matthew in the arm with it. "Can you fix Alice's dress for her? The one she has on is a bit, well, it's seen better days."

Matthew looked at Alice. "Would you like a new dress?"

"Can you make me one?" Alice asked.

"I've made nearly everyone in this place's wardrobe," Matthew said certainly. "But for you? It would be my honour to do so, all you need is ask,"

"So, yes?" Alice said, smirking at him.

"Follow me, love," Matthew said smoothly, holding out his hand to her. She grabbed it and he lifted up. "Branin, hold down the fort while i'm gone,"

"Gotcha," Branin said, and he grabbed the edge of the table with both hands.

"I don't think he meant that literally, you ninny," Fred jeered.

"Do i tell you how to run your life, twerp," Branin said seriously.

They left Branin and Fred to bicker, and they walked towards the large manor nearby, which had an attached cottage right next to it.

"Do you live here?" Alice asked, staring up at the splendid manor. It looked like the most normal thing here, minus the fact it's chimney was zig-zagging upwards and that it looked to be tinged an orange colour.

"Somethin' like that," he responded.

He lead them through the door of the smaller attached building, where Alice saw that it was a workshop, filled to the brim with fabrics she never seen and already sewn clothes and hats lining the walls.

Matthew went to the large desk in the middle of the room, moved a messy stack of papers out of the way, and pulled out needles and thread.

"Do you want the same coloured fabric as you have on now?" Matthew asked, leaning against the desk, tipping his head to the side and nearly making his hat fall off.

"Do as you must," Alice said, waving her hand lazily at him.

Matthew grinned at her, and turned around and got right to work, looking for the right fabric. He took his hat off and put it on a spare mannequin revealing the wavy mop of red hair on his head, himself running his hand through it.

"Do you need my measurements?" Alice asked as he started unrolling a light blue fabric.

"Only if you insist," Matthew replied.

Alice walked towards him. She stood in front of him and pulled out a measuring tape. He placed it around her shoulders, then arms, her legs, her hips, and then -

Matthew had his tongue sticking out slightly as she measured her chest, and Alice giggled at him, her hands on her hips.

"Do you always have your tongue hang out like that while you work?" she laughed.

"It's a force of habit, me dad used to do it a lot," he explained. "He was a Hatter too."

"Wait, really?" Alice said as he unwrapped the measuring tape from around her. "He was a Hatter too?"

"Yea," Matthew said simply. "Almost everyone who isn't part plant or animal usually follows the same career path their parents before 'em did, so i'm in the Hatter division but i do clothes too, i picked it up in my free time,"

"Well, i found my dad's journal," Alice said. "And he wrote about a Hatter named Greenley-"

"That's me last name, yea," Matthew said.

He pulled out a necklace from around his neck, and sure enough it matched the same one she and her siblings had, except his had a tiny aquamarine gem on his, telling his was human.

"It is?" Alice asked. "Then how come you said it was "Matt Hatter" to Fred?"

"We have titles," Matthew said, rolling out the fabric onto his desk to cut it. "So as a Hatter, they call me that instead of me actual last name. They call Fred "Cheshire" because that's his division of creature combination, and so on. Even Branin is referred to as"March Hare" fer him bein' part rabbit and all, but i never got where the "March" part came from, he was born at the end of October."

"Well, if that was your father in the journal," Alice said, trying to out two and two together. "What does that mean happened to your little sister...?"

There was a sudden crash, and Alice nearly jumped as Matthew's face became empty of emotion, staring wide eyed.

"I never met her," Matthew said in a deadpan voice, staring it into space, his bandaged up hands flat on the desk in front of him. "She died with our mum a long time ago, along with our dad. It happened in the very house just next to us, actually."

He continued, his accent really coming out much more angry, Alice staring at him, feeling frozen to the spot. "Mum hid me and my brother in the closet when the Red guards came fer us, dad let me keep his hat in the meantime because he knew how much i liked it. Mum said it would be okay, and she said to be brave if anything happened and that she loved us both dearly. But that was the last time i ever saw 'em. Mikey left me in the dark as he went to check if the coast was clear, and he didn't come back either. So i was alone, and dragged myself out of our hiding spot to see no one was was there. And i just cried, i had no one else in the world after that. It was all the little Queeny's fault, she had all them murdered because she couldn't stand that there were people more deserving of power out there. A lot of us were losin' parents during those times, and then you left, and i felt completely empty inside, because we shared somethin' before ya' left, but even you' don't remember it. And now yer're back, and i have no idea if you'll ever feel the same way i have fer' ya for the long years that you were gone-"

Alice ran up to him, yanked him so he was facing, and put her hands on his face, staring into his eyes, which seemed out of focus. She furrowed her brows, and in a quick thought, Alice yelled out "Hatter!"

Matthew snapped out of it, his eyes getting their colour back and looking frightened. He put his hands on her upper arms, shaking.

"I - what happened?" he said, looking terrified. His eyes were watering slightly, as if he were about to cry.

"It doesn't matter, you'll be fine." Alice said soothingly, rubbing her thumbs against his cheeks. "You alright?"

He gulped and nodded shakily.

She pulled his head down until their foreheads were touching.

"Have you any idea how a raven is like a writing desk?" Matthew asked a moment later, sounding more like himself again.

Alice stared into his colourful eyes. "I have no idea."

Matthew gave her a weak smile. "I should probably get on makin' ya a new dress, shouldn't i?"

She have a small laugh. "Only if you want to."

They separated after a moment (hesitantly, mind you) and he went back to work. Alice decided to watch him work from sitting on the edge of his work desk instead, which he didn't seem to mind.

He held spare needles in his mouth so easy access, and he worked quickly with his hands, which Alice suspected because he had a lot of practice prior. With that said, it made Alice focus on his clothes. They were all fined decorated, with his golden leather vest, the green striped shirt under it, and the black trousers he wore, that had little belts of different coloured thread holders on them and tucked into his leather ammunition boots. Alice liked the way his hips moved in them, and just how the shirt fitted to him so well, but realising she was staring she decided to spark up another conversation.

"What are those tattoos on your arms there?" Alice asked, pointing to the inked images on Matthew's arms.

"Oh, these?" Matthew said, looking at them in mild-interest. "Sam did these for me and Branin, they're of our tea parties, so they have elements of them in it. Ya' know, to look more colourful and stuff,. O' course, she had to shave Branin down to get to he actual skin."

"What's up with you and him anyway?" Alice asked. "Are you two like, best mates or something?"

"You can say that," Matthew said, sewing the fabric quickly without missing a stitch. "Our dads were super close so we'd be together a lot as kids, and after what happened we kinda just shacked up together, we've been inseparable since,"

Alice gave a questioning look, looking slightly amused. "What is he, like your boyfriend or...?"

"He wishes," Matthew laughed. "An' he's already been seeing Luna recently, but i have no clue how they're goin', and i've only really liked one person but i don't think she-"

Matthew blushed red, tied up the thread he was using, and grabbed the fabric and held it up, revealing a silky strapless dress in light blue.

"Here," he said quickly to change the subject. "Try this on, if you don't like it i got 'nother one here just in case,"

Alice grabbed the dress, and saw a set of thick room dividers in the corner, so she went behind them to change.

Matthew looked at the wall not to be eavesdropping as Alice threw her dirty underdress over the side of the divider, and a moment later she stepped out from behind it, wearing the dress.

It was very flowy, with lace details on the hem and a decorative flower on the bodice.

"I like it!" Alice said, looking herself over in a mirror hanging from the opposite wall. "But it's a bit, i dunno, seems more fit for a special occasion? Like an anniversary or something,"

"Oh well, that's why i made a spare," Matthew said, gathering up another dress, this one with obvious sleeves.

He blushed pink. "I still think you look beautiful regardless of whatever you choose to wear or not at all,"

Alice cocked a brow at him and Matthew slapped his hand over his mouth.

"Oh my god, i didn't mean it like that - !" he said frantically. "You can wear as much or as little clothes as you want - oh no wait -"

Alice grabbed the dress from him, nearly crying from laughing so hard. God he was cute when he embarrassed himself.

"-And as i was trying to sleep," Branin said, sitting at the head of the table, waving his broken tea cup knowingly. "Jack didn't bother to leave me alone! Just poking me and what have you with that damned dagger of his. For all i know he was trying to kill me, or cut my hair. And i didn't want either so i just pretended i passed out. So that's why i was asleep while you lot got here, because i actually fell asleep."

"Fascinating," Fred said, obviously bored. He smacked his fist down on a spoon on the table and it launched a sugar cube, hitting a tiny pyramid of cupcakes Hermione had stacked up.

Fred threw his arms up. "Direct hit! Ten points to me!"

Branin have out a small growl as Matthew walked over, his hat back on and a grin on his face.

"May i show off my masterpiece," he said, waving his hands. He moved aside to let Alice be seen in her new dress, and Rose clapped enthusiastically.

The dress was double layered, a darker blue shirt with long sleeves underneath. The main, light coloured dress had shorter sleeves, the hems of the dress, sleeves and skirt being decorated with lace. The bodice was designed with a button-down effect, and there was a bold black and white striped sash to go with it, which hung on with a leather belt that matched the spat boots he gave her. Alice got to properly clean herself up and brushed her hair so it was back to its natural, curly state, and she tied a blue bow in her hair.

"You look beautiful!" Rose said happily. "I mean, not like you weren't already! But oh, i love it! You did great, Hatter!"

"Thank you," Matthew said with a slight bow.

"Okay, me next," Fred said, raising his hand. "I want a corset, please."

"One of those would crush yer' lungs, mate," Matthew said, Branin slipping up to sitting on the arm rest so Matthew could sit back down on his chair. Alice took back her spot next to him, her cheeks flushed pink, considering she was never used to getting compliments. She never felt so comfortable before, with people she actually enjoyed to be around and in clothes she wanted to be in, Even if her new-found brother was a total arse.

The next moment, Branin slid off the arm rest and plopped himself on Matthew's lap (who looked at him with cross look), eyeing Alice with an unamused expression,.

"Er," Alice said weakly. "You okay?"

"I know what you're tryin' to do," Branin said seriously, putting his hands on his hips, making Matthew roll his eyes. "You're tryin' to steal Matty from me!"

"I just got here," Alice said, feeling annoyed. Like she needed a half-rabbit telling her off.

"Branin, honestly, it's fine-" Matthew started.

"No it is not! _You_ can't have him, he's _my_ Pumpkinhead," Branin said seriously, and he hugged Matthew, pushing his face side to side with his own, who was turning more red by the second. "We don't need no ladies in our lives, you hear me?"

"Hey!" Hermione said, looking annoyed. "I'm a lady!"

"Besides Hermione!" Branin yelled, pointing his finger to sky as he released one of his arms from around Matthew's neck, kicking his feet up. "We need no more!"

"Okay, sure, whatever you say," Alice said, tapping her fingers on the table. "Don't get all mad at me because you're in heat or something."

Branin turned to Matthew, who was shaking his head. "Do male rabbits go into heat?"

"Mate, why the hell would i know?" he said in an exasperated tone.

"I - don't know," Branin said, pouting slightly.

"Well let me tell you this," Alice said, her hands flat on the table. "Where i came from, they cut rabbits' feet off and use it as a good luck charm!"

Branin looked horrified, making an odd squeaky noise.

"Matt, she's gonna cut my foot off," Branin said, looking frantic. "I like my feet, i don't want them cut off!"

"I sure am," Alice said seriously, just to freak him out more.

He frowned, Matthew looking like he was trying desperately not to laugh.

"Too bad, they're coming off," Alice said dangerously. She took a nearby butterknife and stabbed it into the table as hard as she could for dramatic effect.

Branin let out a high-pitched scream and toppled off Matthew's lap and onto the ground, and the whole table burst into laughter.

"Another fine example of Hare's great elegant ways," Fred said with a wave of his hands.

Branin jumped up, his hair ruffled in his face and fuming. "Oh you wanna go, pussycat?"

Fred stood up on his chair and onto the table. "Only if you are, furball!"

Branin stepped onto the table, making Rose stare back and forth at the two of them with teed off expression.

"You're one to talk, don't you lick yourself to bathe?" Branin said, stepping over the assorted tea pots to get over to Fred.

"That is a nasty stereotype and you know it!" Fred said, pointing a golden claw at him, kicking over a dish of lemon cakes onto the ground.

Hermione stood on her tea pot, swinging her spoon at them and making the bandersnatch's eyes wobble from her belt. "Stop it, you loons! You're making a mess!"

"Quiet, squirt, i'm asserting my authority here," Fred said, waving her off. Hermione looked enraged and about to stab him in the shin with her needle sword.

"I'll assert my foot in your arse, how about that?" Branin said harshly, holding his hands up in a threatening way.

Rose had her face in her hands, looking utterly mortified by the situation. Hermione was swinging her spoon around, hitting the pair of them in the ankles, which worked to no avail since they had boots on. Alice and Matthew, whoever, were nearly crying in laughter, watching the scene eagerly.

Alice smiled at him, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, and he smiled back. She never felt happier. She'd have to find Luna later and thank her for tempting her to fall down that rabbit hole in the first place.

Just then, there was a nickering noise from the dense fog, and Branin's ears shot up in surprise.

"Oooh _no_," he said, looking fearful.

Hermione clutched her spoon to her chest. "Oh dear, i think it's the Knave!"

Fred turned around, and without looking back said, "Goodbye." and evaporated away, leaving Branin there standing on the table.

Rose shot up from her seat. She looked at Alice and mouthed "Stay safe" and went into the nearby forest, and blended in with the plants she surely would communicate with. Branin scrambled back onto his seat, making himself look somewhat presentable, mostly but looking like he was drinking his tea and making sure his silverware was straight.

Matthew, however, stared straight ahead, and put his hand under his chair. He pulled it up a split second later and threw a large silvery piece of thick fabric over Alice. She went to ask what was happening when Matthew shushed her, and said, "Don't make a noise, okay?"

She nodded, though not entirely convinced. Shouldn't she hide in the manor or something? It would be fairly obvious if she was just under a piece of fabric, but she went silent as she sat there. She pulled her legs up so she was completely covered.

Hermione went and sat on her little stack of books on a chair, and sipped on her small cup of tea, her brows furrowed.

A group of pitch black horses came into view, decorated in red hearts, while the riders where in bright red armour. The leader, however, was a tall, blunt boy with spiky black hair and his one eye covered with a red heart patch, grinning at them.

He descended from his horse, and swaggered towards the table, a plump white bulldog sniffing around, himself in a heart sash.

"Well, well!" Vincent said in a ridicule tone. "If it isn't my favourite trio of _lunatics_!"

"Would you like to join us?" Hermione said in her sweetest voice, trying to sound as nice as possible as the fat bulldog went sniffing around the table.

Vincent ignored her, making Hermione huff in an annoyed way.

"You're later for tea!" Branin yelped suddenly, getting up on his chair and throwing a tea cup at Vincent.

He ducked just in time, the thrown tea cup hitting one of the spare knights in the head instead.

Vincent sneered at Branin, wagging his finger at him disapprovingly. "I wish i could say the same, dear cousin."

Branin and Hermione, however, where giggling at the bewildered knight as he wiped tea off his helmet.

"We're looking the girl ... named _Alice_," Vincent said slowly as he stalked down the length of the table.

He ended up near Matthew, who looked amused with the situation. "You wouldn't happen to have seen her, have you?"

Alice sat in silence, holding her knees to her chest. Couldn't he see her? She was under a piece of ruddy fabric, after all. Unless...

"Speaking of the Queen," Matthew said, ignoring Vincent completely. "Here's a little song we used to sing in her honour,"

And the three of them started to sing.

"_Twinkle twinkle little bat, how I wonder where you're at. Up..._"

Vincent made a hissing noise and wrapped his arm around Matthew's throat, putting him in a headlock, nearing knocking his top hat off his head.

"If you're hiding her," Vincent said viciously. "You'll lose your heads!"

"Already lost them," Matthew said in a strangled voice.

Branin and Hermione laughed again.

Vincent huffed and let him go roughly, and Matthew, after readjusting his hat, said in a lighter tone, "All together now!"

"_Up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky. Twinkle twinkle..._"

The bulldog went under the table now, and he poked his bulbous head up as he sniffed the chair next to Matthew, where Alice was hiding. She nearly held her breath, trying her hardest not to make a single movement that could give her away.

Matthew bent down slightly and said in a half-whisper, "_Down with the Bloody Witch_."

The bulldog stared up at him with his big, dark eyes with understanding, and he turned around, barking that he found nothing.

Vincent grabbed a tea cup and sipped from it. Branin held up a tea pot to him and said, "Care for some tea, Vincey?"

he ignored Branin and said to the Red knights, "Follow the bulldog, will you?" and they followed his orders.

Hermione offered Branin some sugar cubes, and Vincent glared at them.

"You're all _mad_," He spat.

"Thank you very much," Branin said with a slight mocking bow.

Vincent scowled at them and threw his cup on the ground. He turned on his heel and went back to his horse, mounted it, and rode away.

As soon as they were long gone, Alice poked her head out of the fabric, looking confused.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, the fabric still around her.

"Simple, " Matthew said certainly. He grabbed the fabric, which upon showing Alice revealed that it was not there. "Invisibility cloak."

Alice stared at it, pulling it off her in shock. "How'd you get - ?"

"Harry has one from his dad," Matthew explained. "It took awhile but i was able to recreate it, so i keep a spare under me seat just in case."

"Well good thing the bulldog was on our side," Hermione said, her hands on her hip. "If not you'd be -"

She made a slicing motion across her neck, sticking her tongue out of extra effect.

"What do they want with me?" Alice asked, her brows furrowed.

She frowned, realisation dawning on her. "It's the Jabberwocky business, isn't it?"

"Most likely, yea," Matthew said awkwardly.

"Oh!" Branin said, turning to them quickly, pointing a spoon at Matthew. "I know what ya' should do! Take her to the White Queen! She'll be safe there-"

Branin stared at the spoon in his hand. "Shinyy..."

Matthew turned to Alice. "He has a point."

"Sounds like a plan," Alice said, pulling the cloak off of her.

He stood up. "Shall we go then, m'lady? At least before the sun sets,"

Alice grinned at him, and pushed herself up. "Only if i can keep the cloak."

"It's all yours," Matthew said.

"Oh! I love travelling, let's go!" Hermione said excitedly, scarpering towards them.

"Hermione, _please_," Matthew said in a stressed voice. "You can meet us there, okay? At least go and find Rose and Fred and tell them the situation,"

Hermione pouted, her eyebrows shooting downwards to match her drooped ears. "_Fine_."

She crossed her arms over her chest as Branin said cheerfully, "Have fun!"

Alice grabbed Matthew's hand and he started directing them towards a path in the nearby forest. A moment later, however, he had to duck as Branin threw another tea cup their way. Matthew popped back up after the tea cup flew over him and said, "Alright, _now_ we can go."

He leads them into the forest, which was lit in a warm, orange hue as the sun began to set, the tunnel of blue and teal trees creating a nice shade for them to walk under, hand in hand. It was actually fairly nice, just walking holding the Hatter's hand. His hands, despite being bandaged up from sewing accidents, surely, where much more comfortable to hold, a wonderful upgrade from Smith's damp ones.

"How's the normal world like?" Matthew asked suddenly, trying to make small talk.

"What, you mean beyond the rabbit hole?" Alice replied.

"Well, yea," he said. "It has to be a bit better than here, considering it must not have the lingerin' threat of gettin' yer head cut off every single day, innit?"

Alice sighed. "It's not it's cracked up to be, actually. It's not at harsh, but that's all the Queen's fault here. No, every thing has to be a certain way up there. You have to _act_ a certain way. _Talk_ a certain way. _Look_ a certain way. _Be_ a certain way. I was always singled out because i never fit to what they wanted me to, no one seemed to like me."

"I'd usually just spend my time reading or something like that. Just those worlds of fantasy and adventures where so amazing, i wanted to escape from what my actual reality was. That's why i was so skeptic to believe this place was real in the first place. I never thought i'd get to go somewhere like what i've read in storybooks, but to find out this was my home before all of that, and that i had family and friends here who are all eager to welcome me back, it almost seemed to good to be true. Even with you by my side,"

Alice squeezed on Matthew's hand. "I'm glad we've meet before, even if i can't remember it."

Matthew gave her a sad smile, his hair in his eyes again. "I'm just glad you didn't lose yer muchness."

"My muchness?" Alice asked.

"What makes you, _you_." Matthew explained. "After bein' with all those years with those prats, ya' still never lost who ya' were inside. I think even that was a sign you were bound to come back eventually."

Alice held his hand tighter, so their arms were touching as well, as they continued to walk in blissful silence.

A while later, Matthew mumbled under his breath.

_"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe."_

"Sorry, what was that?" Alice asked, looking up at him.

"What was what?" he responded.

They continue to walk.

"The Jabberwock," Matthew started, his accent coming out thickly once again, speaking louder this time. "With eyes aflame, Jaws that bait and claws that catch, Beware the Jabberwock, my son, The frumious Bandersnatch. He took his vorpal sword in hand. The vorpal blade went snicker-snack. He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing _back_."

Her looked at Alice. "Its all about you, ya' know."

Alice frowned. "I don't know how anyone expects me to slay, i haven't slayed anything in my life, much less a Jabberwocky. I don't know if i could slay if i wanted to."

"Aye," Matthew said gruffly. "But ya' will, and i'll be right behind ya' to help. You're not gonna go in alone, i promise."

"An' if needed," he added. "Branin can come in and scoop their eyes out wit' a spoon, but only if ya' want."

Alice stiffened a giggle. But just then Matthew started to look around, startled.

"Did you hear somethin'?" he said, glancing around.

Alice looked behind her. The tree tunnel behind them was darken, so she couldn't see anyone.

However, a moment later it became apparent that there were galloping horses in the area.

"Red knights," Matthew said in a whisper, and he grabbed Alice's hand, yanking her forward as they started running.

Jumping over fallen trees and broken rocks they ran, trying to escape as the Red knights ran in on them. But even then it became clear that would prove utter useless.

They halted, coming to a nearly dried up lake where a leafless tree was just across on the other side. Matthew looked over his shoulder, and heard a dog barking and a group of heavy steel feet stomping closer.

Matthew turned back to Alice, looking dejected.

"Put on cloak and hide, okay?" he said in a dismal whisper. "I'll take care of this,"

"What? No, if they catch up you'll get your head cut off!" Alice said, holding the cloak and looking crestfallen.

"Alice, just go, i'll be fine. Go just beyond that leafless tree across the lake and go south, the White castle lays just beyond," He said in a forced calm voice. He pulled his hat off, and handed it to her. "Here, take this, just in case, you know, if somethin' happens..."

Alice gave him a heartbroken look, hesitantly taking the hat. She threw the cloak over her back, and with one spur of the moment action, she pecked him on the cheek and whispered "Thank you" before disappearing completely under the cloak, pulling it over her head. The leaves and twigs moved as she stepped away, completely unseen.

He stared after her despairingly. Matthew started to say "I love y-" but was cut off as the Red knights surrounded him, their lances pointed at him.

Matthew straighten out his stance, and grinned at them teasingly, raising his arms up in rejoice.

_"Down with the Bloody Red Queen!_" he belted out, smiling at them manically.

The Red knights closed in on him, and himself not putting up a fight, they tied his arms with thick red ropes, bounding them behind his back. The largest one held Matthew in place, and haughty laugher was heard.

Vincent stepped forward, pushing the guards away as he grinned triumphantly.

"Ooh, i am going to _enjoy_ this," he said, taking a spare baton from his belt. Vincent grabbed Matthew roughly by the chin as he glared at him, straigneding him out, so they were looking face to face. Vincent gave him a victorious grin. Matthew, however, spat in his face, making Vincent look disgusted.

The Red knights went to strike him when Vincent halted their attacks.

"Let me take care of this, boys." Vincent said, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

Vincent gave one last grimace to Matthew as he swung his arm back, and bashed him in the face with the baton.

Matthew hung his head for a few seconds, until he slowly turned back to Vincent, his mouth bleeding. He spat blood onto the ground and said, "Oh honestly, ya' call _that_ a hit?"

Vincent snarled at him, and swung his arm back, and struck him again.

"Did ya' feel a breeze?" Matthew said, his hair falling over his eyes again. He grinned at Vincent, blood running down his chin. "Are ya' sure you know how to use that thing, bawjaws?"

The bulldog whimpered from behind one of the dark horses as Vincent struck him again. The red haired Hatter mumbled something, still grinning at him, and Vincent hit him again. This time he slumped to the ground, blood spilling out of his mouth and nose, a new gash on his cheek, but he was still stirring despite it.

"Come on," Vincent said, wiping the blood off his baton and putting is back in his belt. "Charisse will be wanting to interrogate him anyway, i can't kill him until _after_ that."

The largest knight picked him up, his face bloody and wounded, and they were on their way back to the Red castle, the bulldog running the opposite way.


End file.
